> HOW MARAIS TEACHES KINDNESS

Glenn Marais knows the power of music to reach and teach kids. The Newmarket singer/songwriter has been taking his message about social injustice to schools for years with resounding success.

An anti-racism program he developed almost 10 years ago is so popular that he hosts several schools at once in a local theatre for the full production of songs and visuals.

During Black History Month, the show focuses on the evolution of black and white relations and even includes a rap version of Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech.

It’s an upbeat event led by the guitar-playing singer, whose mantra of “give to live” catches on.

“They’re up and dancing in the aisles,” he says, rhyming off a playlist that includes Bruno Mars, Pharrell Williams and Michael Jackson.

“They don’t realize how much of a change he made and how he opened doors to other black artists,” Marais says of Jackson, who died in 2009.

“Sam Cooke’s ‘A Change is Gonna Come’ always brings out emotion because the kids know it,” he adds.

Racist taunts diminished him as he grew up, recalls Marais, whose father was white and mother “coloured” — a term used by the apartheid government of South Africa, where the couple lived before leaving in 1964. He was born here.

Today, Marais uses music to speak out against injustice and inequality, offering hope and motivating young people to help others.

“We can do so many things, but we just can’t get along yet,” he says. “We’re still asking when change is going to come.”