Black History Month – Integrity – Thanking Those Who Stood Up October 5 th – 9th

The freedoms we have in this country and in other countries across the world have come at great price in many cases. Many people have either lost their lives, lost their own freedoms or lost their possessions in pursuit of some of the things we sometimes take for granted – like the right to travel, to vote, to attend school and to attend school with people of other races and cultures. What some of these people never lost was their integrity.

Do you know what integrity means? Why don’t you share some ideas with your classmates? Do you have integrity?

Integrity-means the quality of being honest and having moral principles. Let us spend 2 minutes talking to each other about someone who was honest and who displayed moral principles. Desmond Tutu is still very much alive and during the Apartheid years in South Africa when blacks, coloureds and Asians were not treated with dignity, he stood up! He used his church sermons, his letters and his visits to major cities across the world to speak up about the injustices faced by fellow South Africans.

Monday In my country of South Africa, we struggled for years against the evil system of apartheid that divided human beings, children of the same God, by racial classification and then denied many of them fundamental human rightsIn my country of South Africa, we struggled for years against the evil system of apartheid that divided human beings, children of the same God, by racial classification and then denied many of them fundamental human rights But… God's dream is that you and I and all of us will realize that we are family, that we are made for togetherness, for goodness, and for compassion.God's dream is that you and I and all of us will realize that we are family, that we are made for togetherness, for goodness, and for compassion.

South Africa When I ( Mr Bradshaw) was at university South Africa was a very different country. The South Africa we know today was achieved through sacrifice and by men and women of ‘integrity’. Steve Biko was one of these men.

Steve Biko Stephen Biko ( ) was a black leader in South Africa who protested against racial segregation and white domination over the Blacks. He worked towards creating a South Africa of equality and one free of apartheid yet was killed in jail due to police brutality and negligence. Though he died his ideals and hopes for South Africa lived on and in the 1990’s apartheid came to an end and Steve Biko’s dreams came true.

The next slide includes a Prezie Presentation about Steve Biko which includes a You Tube clip. Please read and listen carefully to the song that is played in the background. Thank you

Steve Biko presentation/

Dear God: Our cultures, our beliefs and our talents are vast- And for this we say thank you. May we show integrity in our daily lives. May we use the examples of those who have died and those who are still alive to always stand up for what is right, just and true, Amen

Do you remember the London Riots in the summer of 2011? We were shocked to see London on fire, places being looted and youths running crazy in military balaclavas around the city. In Hackney, East London a lady stood up. Her name is Pauline Pearce.

"One man got physical with me, and that's why I started ranting. There was a burnt-out car, and I said: 'What is the point of that? It's ridiculous, they're our neighbours' vehicles, and they're trying to make a living just like you.‘….

And this big burly man goes up against me, and really gives me intimidation. And I'm like, 'Go for it, I'm ready to go, I'm at peace with the Lord.' And that's when I started to go off on one. I was ranting for a good 15 minutes.”

Dear God Help me to stand up in my school and stand up in my community. Remind me of what is just and what is honest and what is moral. Help me to think of others and relieve their pain and their hurt. Remind me of my purpose on earth as steward. Amen