History and Social Studies Education

http://www.thegreatrepublican.com Illinois' Rep. Bobby Rush (D) was removed from the House floor Wednesday morning after donning the hood of his sweater — an...

The 'rules' about clothing, place and social context are culturally and politically institutionalized. Where can you wear what clothes, and when does that change? Should it change? The clothes literally made this particular speech, since it was about the criminalization of cultural clothing norms within racial and economic groups. Should he have been thrown off the floor? What would you have done?

How did a kid armed with Skittles and an iced tea get gunned down by an overeager neighborhood watch captain? And why didn't police detain shooter George Zimmerman?

Periodically a racially charged incident involving the police will polarize public opinion and bring the discussion of race and injustice into the limelight.  That is happening with the Trayvon Martin killing.  On the surface it appears that an overzealous neighborhood watchman racially profiled Trayvon as being suspicious, tried to detain him as killed him.  The local police are calling it self-defense even though the young man was simply minding his own business.  This could be an interesting case study to investigate as a class to see the inner-workings of the law, racial dynamics and power today.