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 88 tools for
tolerance
Hate can only be conquered by
resident-activists willing to promote tolerance. You may
already be one of them. The ideas in this guide will
help foster tolerance in yourself, your family, your
schools, your workplace and your community. Some of the
ideas are things to do. Some are things to think about.
Some are things to remember. But a word of caution is in
order: this guide is not a sure-fire recipe for making
the world a better place. These ideas are only some of
the possibilities. The best ideas are those that work
for you and your community.
Ideas for
yourself
Ideas for your
home
Ideas for your
school
Ideas for your
workplace
Ideas for your
community
Share your
ideas
Ideas for
yourself
1. The UK is a vibrantly
multicultural place - take advantage of the mix of
things on offer when you go to the theatre, cinema,
or out for a meal.
2. Volunteer at a local charity of
community organisation and get to know your neighbours
and neighbourhood better.
3. Learn about the different faiths
practised in the UK by reading books, chatting to
neighbours, or visiting different places of worship.
4. Learn about our shared history from
the people who lived it - visit a local senior citizens
centre and collect oral histories. Donate large-print
reading materials and books on tape.
5. Avoid the supermarket and shop at
local stores and markets. Get to know the people you
interact with in daily life.
6. Participate in a diversity program.
7. Organise a bring-a-dish party with
friends so you can share your food cultures - and maybe
trade a few traditonal dance steps!
8. Learn sign language.
9. Take a conversation course in
another language that is spoken in your community.
10. Teach an adult to read.
11. Speak up when you hear slurs. Let
people know that prejudice is always unacceptable.
12. Imagine what your life might be
like if you were a person of another race, gender or
sexual orientation. How might "today" have been
different?
13. Take the How Tolerant are You?
A Test of Hidden Bias
. Enlist some friends to take this
"hidden bias" test with you and discuss the results.
14. Research your family history.
Share information about your heritage in talks with
others.
15. List all the stereotypes you can —
positive and negative — about a particular group. Are
these stereotypes reflected in your actions?
16. Think about how you appear to
others. List personality traits that are compatible with
tolerance (e.g., compassion, curiosity, openness). List
those that seem incompatible with tolerance (e.g.,
jealousy, bossiness, perfectionism).
17. Read a book or watch a movie about
another culture.
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Ideas for your
home
18. Give a multicultural doll, toy
or game as a gift.
19. Assess the cultural diversity
reflected in your home's artwork, music and literature.
Add something new.
20. Don't buy playthings that promote
or glorify violence.
21. Establish a high "comfort level"
for open dialogue about social issues. Let children know
that no subject is taboo.
22. Bookmark equity and diversity
websites on your home computer.
23. Point out stereotypes and cultural
misinformation depicted in movies, TV shows, computer
games and other media.
24. Involve all members of the family
in selecting organisations to support with charitable
gifts.
25. Gather information about local
volunteer opportunities and let your children select
projects for family participation.
26. Play "action hero" with your
children. Are the heroes all aggressive males? Help your
children see the heroic qualities in those whose
contributions often go unrecognized (e.g., nurses,
bridge builders, volunteers in homeless shelters).
27. Affirm your children's curiosity
about race and ethnicity. Point out that people come in
many shades.
28. Help young children make an
illustrated list of what friends do or what friendship
means.
29. Read books with multicultural and
tolerance themes to your children.
30. Watch what you say in front of
children when you're angry. Curb your road rage.
31. Watch how you handle emotional
issues with girls and boys. Do you attempt to distract
crying boys but reassure crying girls?
32. Examine the "diversity profile"
for your children's friends. Expand the circle by
helping your children develop new relationships.
33. Enrol your children in schools,
daycares, after-school programs and camps that reflect
and celebrate differences.
34. Live in an integrated and
economically diverse neighbourhood.
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Ideas for your
school
35. Donate tolerance-related
books, films, magazines and other materials to school
libraries. Organise a book drive.
36. Buy art supplies for a local
school. Sponsor a mural about the cultural composition
and heritage of your community.
37. Volunteer to be an advisor for a
student club. Support a wide range of extracurricular
activities to help students "find their place" at
school.
38. Coach a girls' sports team.
Encourage schools to provide equal resources for boys'
and girls' athletics.
39. Ask school counsellors what
resources they have for supporting gay and lesbian
youth. Offer additional materials if necessary.
40. Assess your school's compliance
with the accessibility requirements of the Disabilities
Act. Organise a class project to improve compliance.
41. Donate recording equipment to a
school that is conducting oral history projects. Suggest
a focus on tolerance and community interaction.
42. Start a pen pal program. Get
students in touch with people in different parts of the
community, country or world.
43. Applaud the other team. Promote
good sportsmanship and ban taunting.
44. Encourage schools to go beyond the
"heroes and holidays" model to develop a rich, ongoing
multicultural curriculum. Give Teaching
Tolerance
materials to educators in your
community.
45. Provide confidential methods for
students to report harassment or bullying.
46. Encourage school administrators to
adopt Internet-use polices that address online hate,
harassment and pornography.
47. Discourage the use of divisive
school emblems.
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48. Create a bilingual (or
multilingual) calendar highlighting school and community
activities.
49. Invite bilingual students to give
morning greetings and announcements on the PA system in
their home languages.
50. Make sure that school cafeterias
offer options for students and staff with dietary
restrictions.
51. Celebrate "Someone Special Day"
instead of Mother's Day or Father's Day. Keep adoptive
and foster students in mind when planning
family-oriented programs.
52. Ask schools not to schedule tests
or school meetings on the major holidays of any
religious group. Develop a school calendar that respects
religious diversity.
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Ideas for your
workplace
53. Hold a "diversity potluck"
lunch. Invite co-workers to bring dishes that reflect
their cultural heritage.
54. Arrange a 'lunch forum' on topics
of diverse cultural and social interest.
55. Partner with a local school and
encourage your colleagues to serve as tutors or mentors.
56. Sponsor a community-wide essay
contest on how to improve your neighbourhood for
everyone.
57. Examine the degree of diversity at
all levels of your workplace. Are there barriers that
make it harder for people of colour and women to
succeed? Suggest ways to overcome them.
58. Cast a wide net when recruiting
new employees.
59. Give everyone a chance for that
promotion. Post all job openings.
60. Fight against the
"just like me" bias
— the tendency to favour those who
are similar to us.
61. Value the input of every employee.
Reward managers who do.
62. Avoid singling out employees of a
particular race or ethnicity to "handle" diversity
issues on behalf of everyone else.
63. Vary your lunch partners. Seek out
co-workers of different backgrounds, from different
departments, and at different levels in the company.
64. Start a mentoring program that
pairs veteran employees with newcomers.
65. Ensure there is an internal
procedure for employees to report incidents of
harassment or discrimination. Make sure people know it
exists.
66. Ensure that your workplace
complies with the accessibility requirements of the
Disabilities Act.
67. Push for equitable leave policies.
Provide paid maternity and paternity leave.
68. Don't close your door. Foster an
open working environment.
69. Provide employees with paid leave
to participate in volunteer projects.
70. Publicize corporate giving widely,
and challenge other companies to match or exceed your
efforts.
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Ideas for your
community
71. Participate in a blood drive, or
clean up a local stream. Identify issues that reach
across racial, ethnic and other divisions and forge
alliances for tackling them.
72. Start a monthly "diversity
roundtable" to discuss critical issues facing your
community. Establish an equity forum.
73. Hold a community-wide yard sale
and use the proceeds to improve a park or community
center. Celebrate the event with a picnic.
74. Build a community peace garden.
75.
Start
a "language bank" of volunteer interpreters for all
languages used in your community.
76.
Encourage fellow members of your congregation to be
tolerance activists.
77.
Create a town or borough website or set up a social
networking group for your area.
78.
Host a "multicultural extravaganza" such as a food
fair or art, fashion and talent show.
79.
Create a mobile "street library" to make
multicultural books and films widely available.
80.
Establish an ecumenical alliance. Bring people of
diverse faiths together for retreats, workshops or
potluck dinners. Be welcoming to agnostics and
atheists, too.
81.
Write a letter to the editor if your local newspaper
ignores any segment of the community or fails to
report stories about cooperation and tolerance.
82.
Start a campaign to establish a multicultural centre
for the arts. Ask local museums to host exhibits and
events reflecting diversity at home and elsewhere.
83.
Present a "disabilities awareness" event with the
help of a local rehabilitation organisation
84.
Make sure that anti-discrimination protection in
your community extends to gay and lesbian people.
85.
Give copies of our Intelligence Report to law
enforcement agencies in your community. Do officers
receive training about hate groups, hate crimes and
domestic terrorism?
86.
Order a copy of Ten
Ways
to Fight Hate and become a community activist
against hate groups and hate crime.
87.
Conduct a "nappy equity" survey of local
establishments. Commend managers who provide
changing tables in men's as well as women's
restrooms.
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Share your
ideas
88. Share your Ideas
The best ideas come out of the
experiences of caring and committed individuals and
communities. E-mail your best suggestions for
promoting equity and celebrating diversity to us at
info@toleranceinternational.org.uk
Or get out a piece of paper and a
pen, and mail your suggestions to:”Share your
ideas”
Tolerance International UK
34 North End Road
London W14 0SH
This idea has been taken from a web
project of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
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