This American Life 72: Trek
This program is an idiosyncratic first-person travelogue about race relations and tourism in the new South Africa. The interracial producers of the program travel through the still mostly-segregated society and have very different opinions about what they see, especially when it comes to some distant relatives of the white correspondent’s in South Africa.

Questions to Consider:

1. How do personal racism and stereotypes factor into this story?
2. What types of prejudice and discrimination can you observe in this story?
3. Explain the institutional racism that you observe in this story.

362: Got you Pegged
In essence, this episode is about stereotypes. Shalom goes on vacation with his family, and suspects the beloved, chatty old man in the room next door is an imposter—and sets out to prove it. Amy thought it was obvious that she was an adult, not a kid, and she assumed the friendly man working at the children's museum knew it too. Unfortunately, the man had Amy pegged all wrong. These and other stories are presented about the pitfalls of making snap judgments about others.

Questions to Consider:

1. What stereotypes are applied in each of the stories? Why do the people stereotyping stereotype?
2. What prejudice results from the stereotypes demonstrated in this episode? Does any discrimination occur?
3. Is there any evidence of institutional prejudice and/or discrimination taking place?

Radiolab Season 5 Episode 3: Race
Description: This episode asks—but never answers—questions about the validity of the term “race.” It examines how understandings of “race” have changed across time and looks at both the scientific and cultural costs we pay for treating “race” as a real and meaningful thing and also examines the costs of treating it as if it is nothing more than a social construct.

Questions to Consider:

1. Why is it so difficult to determine whether or not “race” is a biological reality?
2. What are the costs of sorting people into biological categories according to “race”?
3. Is it possible to retain racial categories without retaining beliefs about superiority and inferiority? Or, are the two inextricably linked?
4. Why do some geneticists and medical researchers believe that it is damaging to dispense with the concept of “race”?

Mind The Gap: Why Good Schools are Failing Black Students
This documentary considers the black-white achievement gap. It focuses on one suburban school and how educators and administrators are attempting to address disparities of outcomes.

Questions to Consider:

1. How do students describe their educational experiences? What problems do they identify?
2. Do the students’ views of the educational system and the classroom differ from those of their teachers and their parents? If so, how?
3. What steps do teachers take to engage their students? Do you believe these are effective?