On 9 September 1971, a prison riot broke out at Attica State Prison, New York, which was brutally suppressed by the National Guard after four days, resulting in the deaths of 43 people. “Teach Our Children” sides passionately with the rebellious prison inmates and investigates the inhumane conditions that provoked the revolt. The statements of the inmates recorded on film denounce the open racism of the prison system and the exploitation in the form of work measures. On the other side is the “clear conscience” of those who gave the order to shoot, first among them prison warden Oswald: “Do you have any sense of guilt at all?” – “No.”

The programmatic sub-header of this film is “a black & white movie”. In “Trick Bag”, young people from a variety of origins talk about peer pressure and power struggles in Chicago neighbourhoods that used to be regarded as ethnically homogenous but are now centres of many cultures. Whites, Blacks, Latinos and Latinas appear on camera. They are Vietnam veterans, gang members and factory workers who try to organise peaceful coexistence. Instead of fighting each other, the tenor goes, they should all become aware of their situation as segregated and precariously employed. An entertaining and feistily presented plea for solidarity and coexistence in Chicago – representative of many American metropolises of that time.