Two classes at Hammond elementary won the Vancouver Whitecaps Show Racism the Red Card contest.
Now all of the children and teachers involved have won a prize of two tickets each to the July 1 Whitecaps soccer game against the Colorado Rapids.
The contest, which is co-sponsored by the B.C. Teachers’ Federation, as the union created a resource booklet for teachers offering lesson plans for approaching the issue of racism. The Whitecaps promote inclusion through soccer.
Teachers Patricia Patrick and Jenn Williams created a video in which they changed the words in the Whitecaps theme song White is the Colourto reflect an anti-racism message.
Some of the lyrics:
We don’t define by colour, Canada is our name
We’re all together, acceptance is our aim
So come one and all through sun and rain
Cause Canada, Canada is our name
So come to use and we will welcome you
If you’re not on board we will red card you
Sing loud and clear ‘til the day is done
Sing Canada for everyone
They work with kids in Grades 1-3 in the Montessori classes at the school.
Wes Reamsbottom played guitar, and the video was recorded by a classroom parent, Gagandeep Hehar, who produced the video based on the Whitecaps format.
“It was a real team effort,” said Patrick. “We were one of two first-place winners in B.C. The other winner was a Social Justice 12 class in a different school district.”
The students will also receive a personalized video from one of the Whitecaps soccer players expressing their thanks and support for our anti-racism message. All the Hammond students and their parents will be seated in a special area for the game and will visited by Spike, the Whitecaps mascot.
“The prize is wonderful but the real win is the discussions we have had about racism and what we can do to treat people respectfully in our multicultural society,” said Patrick. “Racism needs to be shown the red card.”
