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Are we teaching our children to hate?  Please carefully consider the words in the following song called, “You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught” from the musical South Pacific. It is interesting to note that when Oscar Hammerstein and Richard Rodgers created the song in 1949 it was controversial and was omitted from the original Broadway production. Thankfully, future productions (and the movie version) contained the song.

You’ve got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You’ve got to be taught
From year to year,
It’s got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You’ve got to be carefully taught.

You’ve got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a different shade,
You’ve got to be carefully taught.

You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You’ve got to be carefully taught!

Are you teaching your children to hate?

Photo credit: Rachel Gardner