Here are all the web links suggested in Created Equal, in the order they appear in the curriculum. Hope you find some of them perfect for your purposes!
First Things First
1. What Makes People Happy? What Makes People Powerful?
2. Can Money Buy Happiness? Can Money Buy Power?
3. Why Do Some People Have More Money Than Others?
4. Can Everyone Achieve the American Dream If They Try?
5. What Is the Role and Responsibility of Our Government?
6. How Do Systems Advantage Some and Disadvantage Others Based on Class?
7. What’s Being Done About Classism?
8. What Can I Do? I’m Just a Teen”
9. What Do You Think?
10. What’s Enough?
For Adults in the Community
For more on this story:
This article which analyzes the role of the media in the “tough on crime” campaign
Resources on Nikki Lee:
Photographs from Projects: This is a website for Lee’s gallery and features excerpts from Projects. You can click “Next” to move through the photographs available.
Other photos can be found on the website for the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago here or at ArtNet
Video interview with Nikki S. Lee
http://thecreatorsproject.com/creators/nikki-s-lee 7:00
In this video, Lee describes her works, Projects, Parts, Layers and a fake documentary called A.K.A Nikki S. Lee. She talks about Projects (1:00-3:00) while the rest of the video talks about her understanding of identity and the other work she has done to explore identity.
Resources on Mark Bradford
His website: http://www.pinocchioisonfire.org/
http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/bradford/
Art21-Chapter 3: Collage and Decollage 6:58 (1:13-14:30)
The PBS video series Art21 features contemporary artists in episodes organized by theme. The segment on Mark Bradford features the artist discussing a wide range work including his collages, installations, and videos. (Click on “watch now” on the left of the website.)
http://www.macfound.org/fellows/48/ 1:30
A short video made in response to the artist winning the MacArthur Award-a $500,000 fellowship (no-strings-attached) for individuals who have shown exceptional creativity. It provides a way to understand what kinds of materials he uses and how he uses them.
For more on this story:
http://sypp.org/programs/past-projects/
Available on Android for $.99
www.android.com
Podcast: This American Life (www.thisamericanlife.org)
Episode 13
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/113/windfall
Watch the entire 11 minute film here: http://www.classism.org/programs/k12/enough-movie
Hard copies of Enough andd the teaching guide, are available from Class Action. It is also included as a teaching resource in this curriculum. http://www.classism.org/store
http://www.classism.org/sound-wealth
“YouTube video published on July 10, 2013 was inspired by United for a Fair Economy*”
To see the original video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVwftZ8SK64
United for a Fair Economy
www.faireconomy.org
Based on the work of Training for Change*
*Training for Change www.trainingforchange.org has been increasing capacity around the world for activist training since 1992, helping groups stand up more effectively for justice, peace and the environment. They specialize in training trainers, to create a ripple effect in quality activist training and have lots of great activities on their website under ‘tools’.
For more on this story:
Circleboston.org
http://circleboston.org/blog/one-more-penny-pound
For more on this story:
www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=gentrification_hangover
These organizations will be helpful if you’re interested in finding charts and graphs and other information in response to questions students might be asking.
National Priorities Project
www.nationalpriorities.org
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
http://www.cbpp.org/
1. How state and local tax dollars are spent on public schools
Public schools are mostly funded through state and local taxes. To find out what your community spends for each student, each year in your public school go to the website of the National Center for Education Statistics*. Compare the data from your school’s expenditures with a community that spends more and a community that spends less. If you are teaching in an independent school compare your school’s tuition to the local public school per pupil expenditure.
Once you are at the site you will need to do the following five steps to access the data.
1. Choose expressTables and click on begin.
2. Agree to terms.
3. Select a Level by scrolling down to District.
4. Select a Table by scrolling down to School District Expenditures Per Pupil.
5. Enter: your State, your County, your Zip Code, Distance (distance allows you to compare data from public schools within a certain mile range, if you are in an urban area select 5 miles; if you are in a rural area select 10 or 20 miles), Year (choose the most recent), then click View Table.
Three columns will appear: Total Expenditure Per Pupil, Current Expenditures per Pupil, and Instructional Expenditures Per Pupil. The last column may be the most useful the column for a conversation about local public school funding (because it omits administrative costs). If you are comparing public school funding to the tuition at your independent school compare use Total Expenditure Per Pupil (the first column).
2. How federal tax dollars are spent
To explore how federal tax dollars are spent, the National Priorities Project**
(http://nationalpriorities.org ) provides charts, graphs, and statistics so people can understand the U.S. budget. Check out Visualize Your Tax Dollar, an interactive part of their site to explore how the federal tax dollars were spent and how students think federal tax dollars should be spent.
http://nationalpriorities.org/en/tools/taxday/
Once you are at the site you will need to do the following four steps to access the data.
1. Enter an amount in the box, Federal Taxes Paid (a typical amount is $3000).
2. Chose an Earnings Year.
3. Select Visualization.
4. Click Show My Taxes.
National Priorities Project hosts a national video contest, If I Had a Trillion Dollars which asks young people to make a video about how they would spend the $1 trillion dollars, the amount spent on the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. All videos can be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/user/IHTDVideos.
Students demonstrate to save the program:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXPkzMsKacc
Research results and testimonials:
http://saveethnicstudies.org/meet_us.shtml
From Yes Magazine, the board meeting where students chained them selves to chairs:
http://www.yesmagazine.org/peace-justice/a-student-uprising-in-arizona
Facilitator’s Note: Unions have been systematically attacked and in some cases, dismantled by government and big business over the last 30 years. To help you understand that history, here is an on-line article that explains the decline of unionization:
Minneapolis Truckers Make History (18 minutes)
<http://www.minneapolis1934.org/>
Can My Boss Do That?
http://www.canmybossdothat.com/
Additional resources:
American Labor Studies Center
Teaching About Labor: An Elementary and Secondary Curriculum
For more information on collective decision-making:
SocioNet
Governance Alive
Developed by United for a Fair Economy*
**Facilitators Note: For more of an understanding of how we got here so you can better facilitate this activity and the questions students might ask, check out these two videos which provide a 100 year overview, using 10 chairs. Created by Strategic Actions for A Just Economy (SAJE)**, the videos include information about racial differences and a global understanding. (FYI: They use guys when speaking about people.)
Understanding the U.S. Economy (1) 10 Chairs (5 minutes)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AokZ6DE7aQ
Understanding the U.S. Economy (2) 10 Chairs(5minutes)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTUN7Dn1gEw&NR=1
**Facilitator’s note: Reliable economic data takes two to three years to be analyzed. We are using the most recent available, from 2009, data from these sites to come up with the 10 chairs break-down:
State of Working America
www.stateofworkingamerica.org
Economic Policy Institute (Research Ideas for Shared Prosperity)
www.epi.org
United for a Fair Economy
www.faireconomy.org
Strategic Actions for A Just Economy (SAJE)
www.saje.net
Warren Buffett, the 3rd wealthiest man in the world, has called into question our tax structure that advantages the super rich in the U.S. Share these quotes.
“I pay taxes at a lower rate than my secretary.” (Source)
“While most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks.” (Source)
Then show this interview of Warren Buffet by Tom Brokow on YouTube. Buffet compares what he pays in taxes to the people who work in his office.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cu5B-2LoC4s (5minutes)
In order to understand the issues Buffet raises project from the internet or hand-out, How We Coddle the Super-Wealthy, a graphic created by United for a Fair Economy*.
An explanation of the information on the fact sheet can be found at: http://faireconomy.org/dontcoddleme/learn/infographic_source_sheet
For more on this story:
The entire “Ballad of Macedon-i-o”:
www.mcspotlight.org/media/press/macedon_18apr98.html
History and issues involved in fast food organizing:
www.socialistalternative.org/publications/fastfood/ch4.html
Overall situation with workers and unions today, how labor law works, and suggested reforms:
www.fairsharealliance.org/workers-rights
Center for Working Class Studies
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Institute for Policy Studies Program on Inequality and the Common Good
Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign
Bike Works
http://bikeworks.org/
Buy local
http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/eatlocal/
Co-housing
http://www.cohousing.org/
CSA-community supported agriculture
http://www.localharvest.org/csa/
Fair Trade
http://fairtradeusa.org/
http://www.fairtradefederation.org/
Farm to School
http://www.farmtoschool.org/
F.E.A.S.T. (Funding Emerging Art Through Sustainable Tactics)
For a great video: http://feastinbklyn.org/?page_id=2
Freecycle
http://www.freecycle.org
Grameen Bank
www.grameen-info.org
http://www.muhammadyunus.org/
Ithaca Hours
http://ithacahours.info/
http://www.paulglover.org/hours.html (a website maintained by the founder since 1991)
Kickstarter
http://www.kickstarter.com/
Left Bank Books Collective
http://www.left-bank.com/
Living off the grid
http://www.livingoffgrid.org/
http://www.offthegridnews.com/
Mosaic Coffeehouse
http://www.mosaiccoffeehouse.org
Prosper
http://www.prosper.com/
Socionet
http://www.sociocracy.info/
TimeBanks U.S.A.
http://timebanks.org/
Trade School
tradeschool.ourgoods.org
Urban Gardenshare
http://www.urbangardenshare.org/seattle/
Middlle Schoolers Reform New Orlean’s Schools
For more on this story:http://www.therethinkers.com/
Based on the work of Training for Change
Parallel Lines/Practice Being to Be an Ally
Alternatives to Violence www.avpusa.org
Action
US Uncut a youth action group, targets big, profitable corporations that pay no taxes: Bank of America, Verizon, Fed Ex, GE, BP, and Apple. Their site provides all the information, action materials to join the campaign and take action against unnecessary and unfair cuts to public services.
For ideas about on-going labor solidarity campaigns that students can get involved, in see:
Jobs with Justice (http://www.jwj.org), click on “Campaigns”
Interfaith Worker Justice – http://www.iwj.org/index.cfm/campaigns
Youth Help Re-Build the USA
For more on this story:
https://youthbuild.org/
State of Working America
www.stateofworkingamerica.org
Low-scoring students from high-income families are more likely to complete college than high-scoring, low-income students
Chart 1
Top universities still mostly the preserve of the better-off
Chart 2
College Inequality
inequality.org/
Hours Needed at Minimum Wage to Afford Rent
nlihc.org/sites/default/files/oor/2012-OOR-Min-Wage-Map.pdf
National Low Income Housing Coalition
http://nlihc.org/
Cost of tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans since 2001
www.costoftaxcuts.com
David McCandless
www.informationisbeautiful.net/
The Billion Dollar Gram 2009 (Billions spent on this. Billions spent on that.)
www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/the-billion-dollar-o-gram-2009/
What are the Wall Street protesters so angry about? No.1
www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/what-are-wallst-protestors-angry-about/
For more on this story:
http://www.nola.tv/news/index.
We recommend the following videos to provide context:
A news story by RT News of NYC on the day the movement was born:
Consensus (Direct Democracy @ Occupy Wall Street) posted Oct. 13, 2011 8:26
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dtD8RnGaRQ&feature=youtu.be
An overview of how the protesters organized:
Where Do We Go From Here?posted Oct. 23, 2011 (3:12)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=re4CWYuxlc0
On the one-month anniversary of Occupy Wall Street, a videographer went to Liberty Plaza to find out what’s next.
Next show examples of the movement’s visual culture. You can show images from either (or both) of the projects below.
We are the 99%-a project of Occupy Wall Street
wearethe99percent.tumblr.com/
People submit on-line statements. There are new postings everyday. If you scroll through them, you will find plenty of statements and images from teenagers.
Occupy Together-downloadable posters
www.occupytogether.org/downloadable-posters/
You can download posters that have been donated by graphic designers that are free to use. The posters come through, Occupy Together www.occupytogether.org an unofficial hub for all of the events springing up across the country in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street. Here are thumbnails of a few posters so you get an idea of what you’ll find. Download larger versions and show them to your students. Ask them to identify the main points of the protesters. They should look at both the words and the images the graphic designer uses.
Global Rich List
For more on this story:
http://www.resourcegeneration.org/about-us/7-pages
aPBS series on health impacts of race and class inequality
Episodes
In Sickness and In Wealth (56 min.)
How does the distribution of power, wealth and resources shape opportunities for health?
When the Bough Breaks (29 min.)
Can racism become embedded in the body and affect birth outcomes?
Becoming American (29 min.)
Latino immigrants arrive healthy, so why don’t they stay that way?
Bad Sugar (29 min.)
What are the connections between diabetes, oppression, and empowerment in two Native American communities?
Place Matters (29 min.)
Why is your street address such a strong predictor of your health?
(This episode is available as a stand-alone DVD for $49.95 and with English, Lao, Hmong, Vietnamese, Mandarin and Cantonese audio, as well as English and Mandarin subtitles.)
Collateral Damage (29 min.)
How do Marshall Islanders pay for globalization and U.S. military policy with their health?
Not Just a Paycheck (30 min.)
Why do layoffs take such a huge toll in Michigan but cause hardly a ripple in Sweden?
The series is available as a set on DVD from California Newsreel www.newsreel.org
People Like Us – PBS series on class in America
www.pbs.org/peoplelikeus/
Becoming versus Belonging, by Barbara Jensen, author of Reading Classes
(available from Class Action, www.classism.org/store)
www.classmatters.org/2004_04/becoming_vs_belonging.php
Cognitive and behavioral distancing from the poor, by Bernice Lott, in American Psychologist, 2002.
Available online here.
Unnatural Causes (PBS series on health impacts of race and class inequality)
www.pbs.org/unnaturalcauses/
It is race or is it class that causes so much unnecessary illness and premature death? It’s race and class, with separate but interacting effects, according to the epidemiologists and public health researchers interviewed in this lively and enlightening series of DVDs. The website has many useful resources as well.
Economic Meltdown Funnies comic book, by Chuck Collins and Nick Thorkelson.
www.ips-dc.org/books/the_economic_meltdown_funnies\
The easiest and funniest way to understand the causes of the financial meltdown of 2008-2010 and the recessions that followed.
Training for Change
Training for Change has been increasing capacity around the world for activist training since 1992, helping groups stand up more effectively for justice, peace and the environment. They specialize in training trainers, to create a ripple effect in quality activist training. They have tons of great activities on their website under ‘tools’.
The Co/Motion Guide to Youth-led Social Change by Alliance for Justice
http://www.afj.org/for-students-expired/past-programs/what-comotion-did.html
This user-friendly training manual is designed to engage young people in effective community action by giving them the tools, skills and strategies to solve problems and improve their communities. They are out-of-print, but you can get them used on line.
destructables.org
A DIY (Do It Yourself) site for projects of protest and creative dissent. Created in response to an era where traditional peaceful protest has become almost inconsequential in the United States, they collect and post tactics and methods to shake things up.
