Harmony and anti-racism education

Abstract

When I turn on the radio in the morning and hear the first report of the 'bad' news of the day, I long for a 'good news station' that I could tune into to start my day in a cheerful mood. Instead of hearing about how many people were killed during the night, how many buildings destroyed and people made homeless, how much violence was perpetrated, how many lives destroyed, I long to hear about peace and happiness achieved, conflicts resolved and harmony restored. However, the bad news station reminds me that wishing for these is not enough to achieve a harmonious society; we must also be committed to work on behalf of harmony. Underlying the violence reported each day in different parts of the world is some form of injustice. We can't have harmony without justice. Underlying racism we also find acts of injustice. I and my associates, who are involved in anti-racism education at the University of New England (UNE), as a part of teacher education, hope and believe (most of the time) that education can make a difference in creating a better world. We work with student teachers to develop their understanding of race and racism, of its practice and of its impact.