Facing History Students Question Religious Discrimenation

Our students are mid-way through a unit on the sectarian violence in Northern Ireland that led up to the "Bloody Sunday" event of January 1972.

One challenge has been to understand the similarities between animosity surrounding differences in race, of which we are very familiar, versus that of religious differences.

For American students in the year 2016, many found it hard to understand what the central issues were, or, as one student put it, "What's the big deal?"

As a teacher, I find important to open students up to the idea that conflict between members of a diverse community occurs as a result of deeply felt resentments expressed through attempts to manage them politically, but beginning far before the people involved were born.

The study of history helps to unpack the issues surrounding conflicts. It informs the present regarding what needs to be addressed to solve contemporary conflicts.