Welcome to the Social Justice Project Lecture Series. Here we're going to be immersing ourselves into four different topics. We'll be discussing social justice.  >> Is it social justice or injustice? That's an important part of our daily lives. Everyone goes about their day, and when they face frustrations or oppression, those feelings can cause problems and spread. So before we begin this process of analysis and class discussion within the project, we want you to think about this very sensitive topic.  >> You need to keep in mind that an important part of this process is respect. Respect for your classmates, respect for your teacher, and respect for yourself. As you begin the process of opening up, you need to be aware that it may be tough as you discuss some of these different topics. That process of opening up is a powerful process, and as a result, people will learn a lot from it.  >> Perhaps you're interested in how this entire project came about. The films, class discussions, and lessons all began with a group of students in my classroom. What began as a discussion grew into an argument about respect. As a result, we found that the students had several issues that stem from problems from experiences of oppression. As the students began to open up and share through discussions, the students realized that there were some important life lessons that could apply to their future. They decided to make a film. And that film first began with a single class which grew to a second class and a third theater class joining, all talking about the same topic. They then decided they wanted to show the film to the entire high school. So the entire high school student body came and watched the film. They wanted even more. They began to show it to camps and other groups of students. As a result the Texas School for the Deaf superintendent felt it needed to be more widely available, so we decided to open this opportunity by making a film of different topics, important lectures about each topic, and activities related to situations. These lesson plans are available for your teachers to sit down and discuss with you. We've made this available to deaf and hard of hearing students here in Texas and perhaps some day, it'll be available nationwide. I hope you enjoy this lesson. Building trust. That is something that for many of us, after one negative experience our trust is lost. Building trust often takes courage. Are you brave enough? Are you really wanting to change the world?  >> Changing the world isn't crossing your fingers and hoping for the best. It requires trusting yourself. It requires the willingness to share. Within class we realize that sometimes it takes more than one person to influence change. As you watch this, it's important that you learn about the history of different types of oppression. You'll learn out the history of sexism and how women fought for equality. One example is women's suffrage. Women fought to get full respect from people in positions of power. That's a process. The same thing with ableism. That's when people tell others things that they can't do. There are so many examples you will learn about. As a result we learn that attitude of "can't" is strictly an attitude. It's tough to change, but attitudes can change. You'll also learn about racism, which has a very long and very sensitive history. Many different events in history related to violence has caused this topic to become extremely sensitive. It's important to really have a self analysis during your class discussions.  >> It's important that you know the cause of a lot of oppression and the problems related to it is due to people making assumptions. People assume that they understand or know how others feel. Making assumptions is dangerous. Making assumptions can cause oppression to be more persistent. It's important that you learn, that you ask questions through listening. Some people are resistant towards that or deny. It's important to build that trust which can happen through respectful turn taking and listening to the facts. Through sharing of stories, you'll learn the truth. Put the assumptions aside and listen for the truth.  >> Many of you have experienced oppression. Within groups of students they oppress one another, who then oppress others. It becomes a cycle. As I'm sure you will notice in the movie, there was a cycle of oppression amongst a group of students. You will also see many different numbers displayed. Those numbers are statistics. Statistics is data gathered by researchers. The assumptions people have and the statistics are two different things. Statistics are research-based data that is collected by many people. What one person may see or experience in their lifetime, pales in comparison to the statistics. So it's important for us to know, are these assumptions true or not? So why is this topic important? Perhaps you feel frustrated. Maybe you say, I wish I was like this. I wish I was like that. I wish I could change. Change requires a lot of work; requires a lot of discussion and self analysis. That's the reason why we're providing this Social Justice Project Lecture Series. We hope that more and more of you collect good projects, create more documentaries, and we can see our project grow. Through sharing of this, it's one possible way we can make a change in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community as well as across the world.