case study

Required “Reading”

• Chapter 7 and 8 of the text

Case Study Background:  You have not been around your friend very much for some years. You’ve noticed a change, but you haven’t said anything before.  You see each other at a party and your friend uses a racial slur to refer to people of another identity. One person laughs nervously, another looks away, and yet another nods approvingly. No one says anything. What will you do? Call the person a racist? Walk away? Explain that it offended you? Discuss the harm done by racist comments?

Here’s how the conversation went:

You: What’s up with what you just said? Why do you call people names like that?

Friend: Ah, it doesn’t mean anything. It’s just talk.

You: Yes, but it’s hard to ignore. It sounds harsh to me.

Friend:  Oh come on,  don’t take things so seriously! I would never say those things to someone’s face from ______ if I met them!

1. How do you decide if you will say anything and what you will say?

2. Why do we often have strong feelings about staying quiet or speaking up? 

3. What other factors encourage or discourage us to speak up?

Please note: To get full marks in your answers to questions 1-3 you will need to support your answer with personal examples and references from the text