Now it’s time to make your #USvsHate message!
Students’ messages can be made in any media. See prior winners: That means hand-drawn or digital images, to become stickers and posters or be shared digitally; essays; poems; performances or public actions documented in photos or on video; public service announcements, videos, memes, speeches, dance performances, and spoken word; op-eds; tshirt designs; art installations—the options are endless. An #USvsHate message can be drawn by hand on paper, or created digitally using a phone or computer. A speech into a smartphone camera, a great letter to the editor, a photograph, a comic book, an infographic, a public event, or an animation can be an anti-hate message.
Some winning entries will become full-size posters for classrooms; others will become stickers; others will be shared as videos or images. A potential poster or sticker can be drawn by hand on paper, or created digitally using a phone or computer. Creators can submit individually or as groups. Don’t limit your creativity!
Students have two options for #USvsHate messages this year.
Option 1: make an anti-hate message in any media for your school and the public. Make a message that does one or more of the following:
- communicate that people across lines of difference contribute to our communities, regions, and nation, are equally valuable, and deserve access to opportunity and well-being;
- explicitly address, explore, and refuse racism, xenophobia, homophobia, Islamophobia, antisemitism, sexism, economic harm, or other forms of hate, bias and injustice in schools and society, insisting instead on a society that works for everyone;
- celebrate our actual diversity and similarity, busting myths (challenging stereotypes) about any “type of” person too often misrepresented;
- ask people to treat each other kindly, fairly and respectfully, so schools stay safe for learning and society includes us all.
Option 2: make a public #LetUsLearn message in any media, explaining the inclusive education you want to see in school.
Why are we inviting this? Recently, some policymakers have said that students should not be taught specific ideas about race and history, taught about diversity in sexual orientation/gender identity, or offered “diversity, equity, and inclusion” programs. Some people are demanding bans on specific books and student supports. We haven’t heard nearly enough from youth themselves!
- Make a message that addresses one or more of the following questions in any media:
- Youth will soon be in charge of making our country work for everyone. To prepare, what can we learn and do in our schools or communities for all of us to feel welcome, included, seen, respected, and valued?
- How do you think educators should handle issues of “diversity,” “equity,” or “inclusion” in schools?
- What facts should youth learn in school about race, racism, injustice, and inequality in our society, historically and today? Why?
- What should students learn in schools about people who are LGBTQ+? Why?
- What sort of teaching and activities related to the issues above have you benefited from, in the past? (class discussions, books, school activities or clubs, etc.) Would you improve those activities in any way?
- Have you seen any such learning opportunities or supports taken away recently? What have been the consequences for students? What’s your opinion about this?
- In addition to the hashtag #USvsHate, use the additional hashtag #LetUsLearn somewhere on your message.
- You can watch the #LetUsLearn video on this page to get ideas, or see our Spring 2023 Special Call Winners here, the Winter 2022 Special Call Winners here, and Spring 2022 Special Call Winners, here.
Before you submit:
- PLAN AHEAD: For students under 18, parent/guardian permission is required for any entry submitted under the student creator’s name. Otherwise, the entry should be submitted with student creator anonymous. (We share entries out with first name and state only, with permission.)
- Here’s that permission slip PDF.
- The entry itself also should not have a student’s name or school name visible inside it, like a signature visible on a poster or a student or school named inside a video.
- (Students over 13/under 18 who submit for themselves also must get parent/guardian permission to submit with their name.)
- Any message submitted must be ready to share publicly.
- When you submit, educators and students are invited to share the teaching, learning, and intentions behind messages. Plan ahead– we share these backstories publicly with winning entries!
To be considered for a “Winning” #USvsHate message, the message also must do the following:
- Include the hashtag #USvsHate. (If you don’t put it on there, we’ll add it for you. If you’re submitting a #LetUsLearn message, add that hashtag too.)
- Be both creative and original. (Use original words and other material. Don’t plagiarize.)
- A design could make a common slogan original, but our preference is new words and ideas. Do not use clips from music, videos, or other media that is copyrighted by others. If you use others’ publicly available material, credit the creator whenever possible.
- Successfully communicate the #USvsHate message of inclusion and justice for all, to a group of peers
Pro tips:
- Fewer words are usually better, unless you’re writing a poem or essay or speech. Don’t clutter a visual message.
- In #USvsHate, we’ve seen students make crucial public messages about economic inequality, education opportunity, even climate change. Go for it and explain your thinking in your backstory when you submit.
- If your message attempts to challenge stereotypes, don’t create negatively worded messages like “I am not [stereotype].” Those can plant the stereotype in viewers’ minds! Try creating a positive message that conveys who we are, not only who we are not.
No message submitted should be harmful or hateful to others.
We can’t wait to see what youth have to say.
In using the hashtag #LetUsLearn, we link with many other organizations starting to insist together on the right and freedom to learn about diversity in a diverse nation — including the multiracial community org Missouri Education Equity Partnership or MOEEP, which started the great phrase #LetThemLearn!