Opening (10 minutes)
Gather in a circle and light the candle or chalice. Say something like, "At our first session, we talked about racial justice and racism. These were words some of you had never heard. So far we have been doing things to help us understand racial justice, which is about being kind and fair to all people.

"We talked in the last few weeks about the beauty of all the kinds of people in the world, and all the different kinds of families. We can see on the map that our country is composed of people from different parts of the world. We know that there are many different languages and foods. We know that there are many different ways of dressing and playing, and many different ways of seeing the world. We call this diversity, and we cherish our nation’s diversity."

If your congregation has little or no racial diversity, you may want to say something like, "Yet, when we look around us, in our own town, we find that most of our neighbors are the same as we are. Many of our schools and churches have the same people as our neighborhood. When we look around us, we find very few African Americans, Asian Americans, Latin Americans, or Native Americans (or Canadians) in our neighborhoods, churches, and schools. So we don’t have many chances to experience the diversity of our world.

"To understand why we are separated from some of the wonderful diversity of people, we have to understand another hard word, ‘prejudice’. Prejudice is an invisible wall between people. Prejudice keeps African Americans, Asian Americans, Latin Americans, Native Americans, and European Americans (Canadians) apart. Prejudice is a form of racial injustice. Today we are going to learn a little more about prejudice and how it affects us all–even people like you, who may never have heard the word ‘preiudice’ before."

If your congregation is racially diverse, say something like, "We have a wonderful world of diversity in our church, too–a rainbow race with people who are African American, Asian American, Native American, European American, Latin American–just like our city, and our country, and our world.

"Not all churches and schools and towns have a rainbow of people. In many communities in our country, people are separated from each other by color. To understand how this happened, you need to understand a hard word, ‘preiudice’. Prejudice is an invisible wall between people. Prejudice can keep African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, Latina/Latinos, and European Americans apart. Prejudice is a form of racial injustice.

"Today we are going to learn a little more about prejudice and how it affects us all–even people like you, who may not have heard the word brejudice before."

Focusing (10 minutes)
Bring out the snack. Say something like, "Today we are beginning with a snack, Ugli fruit." Hold it up and wait for reactions. Ask questions like, "What is it? Have you ever seen one? Have you ever tasted one? What do you think it tastes like? Do you think you’ll like it?" Pass one or two around and let the children feel and smell the fruit. Encourage reactions from reticent children.

Cut up the fruit. Elicit comments as the children try it. Say something like, "Do you like it? Does it taste like you thought it would? Does it remind you of another fruit? What was your favorite part of snack today? Why?"

Say something like, "Sometimes we don’t think we are going to like something different– a new food, or game, or people who are different from ourselves. But when we taste the food, or play the game, or meet and live with the people, we are glad that we did. We grow when we try new things."

"When you first saw the outside–the skin– of the fruit, you may have thought,’Ugh–I’m not going to eat that!’ That was prejudice–you made up your mind about a new experience without even giving it a chance. If you refused to eat the fruit, you’d only miss out on a piece of fruit. The fruit doesn’t have any feelings; it doesn’t care. But when someone looks at a person and says, ‘I don’t like the color of his skin,’ or,’What funny hair she has!’ and refuses to get to know them or play with them, that’s prejudice, too. When a person develops a prejudice against another person, feelings are hurt, and everyone loses."

Exploring (15 minutes)
Reintroduce the word "prejudice" by writing the first part of the word on a card or newsprint. Say something like, "Today we have been talking about the word ‘prejudice’. It’s a long word, so let’s break it into parts so we can understand it better. ‘Pre’ means before, and ‘judge’ means to give an opinion about something. Add ‘pre’ to what you think, and you are saying what you think about someone or something before you even know that someone or something.

Prejudice means to be unfair to someone before you even know that person. Did anyone pre-judge the fruit? Did you think you wouldn’t like it before you even tried it?

"Have you ever had an experience where someone prejudged you? That is, when someone put you down or wouldn’t let you do something just because you were a girl or a boy, or too young or too small? Have you ever seen someone being unfair to someone else when they didn’t even know them?"

If it is helpful, use an example from your own experience. Use this example if you don’t have another one: "I know someone who started to wear glasses in the first grade. Do you know anyone who started to wear glasses then? Well, she was the only person in her class wearing glasses, and that made her different. What do you think happened to her? First of all, she could see the teacher and the blackboard, and that was good. But some of the other first-graders thought she looked funny, so they called her names and wouldn’t become her friend."

Elicit responses about this instance of prejudice to help the children understand the concept. Expand the discussion to include instances of racial prejudice. Use examples from your own experience or from news articles. Help the children identify the prejudice in each example. Take out some baseball cards. Invite the children to show any cards they have brought in. Point out that professional baseball teams are "rainbow" teams, with players of many colors — black and brown and white (point to appropriate cards).

Say something like, "But did you know that years ago, only whites were allowed to play baseball in the American and National Leagues? That meant that you couldn’t play for the New

York Yankees or the Cincinnati Reds or any other Major League team unless you were white.

What do you think about that?"

Invite responses.

Introduce the story Teammates by saying: "Today we are going to read a true story about real people. It’s about racial prej udice, and about justice and fairness. Let’s see what happened in the history of baseball to give us the rainbow teams we have now."

Read the story and show the illustrations. Invite reactions and discussion.