There is a discussion of this going on the sled list. The idea of roleplaying and problem solving is not what is being questioned. My question is – how might we do this sort of “role-play” without perpetuating social problems through the very clear racial and ethnic stereotyping that is happening here in the name of “reality”?

The better the technique and production – the more visible the clear pleasure of producing the villanous gang member with the music invoking particular cultural background and stereotypical (very hollywood and bollywoodlike, actually) characters – all this would draw a child into the role playing and perhaps what would be sidetracked into worrying about people from specific ethnic backgrounds – thus the video, instead of posing a dilemma, would teach the child something else…