Children & Racism
Since we know racism is learned, what can you do to ensure your children are allies?
Real Life Comparison: Black Childhood vs. White Childhood
Growing up white, you had a different (more privileged) experience than Black children had. We’ve asked our Board Members to give us some insight to what it’s like to be a Black child in America, and we’re contrasting it with answers from the crew who created this site, so you can get a side by side understanding of the differences.
How did your parents talk to you about race when you were a child?
Black Answer
Growing up I never really had too many racial conversations with my parents that I can remember. I grew up in predominantly white neighborhoods and schools.
If anything I was always trying to find a reason or way to fit in and be accepted with white people. When I was in 1st grade my mother told me I came home one day and asked why I couldn’t have blonde hair and blue eyes. I knew I was different and didn’t want to be. My parents in turn always to me to love who I was and to be proud of who I was.
How do you talk to your children about racism?
Black answer
When I have had to have the difficult conversations about police brutality with my little ones, it has more so been around teaching them how to act or engage if they were to ever happen to be pulled over. Most times it is about complying and being respectful to officers. Making sure they do not give anyone a reason to stereotype them any further to put their lives in danger.
White Answer
Growing up, my parents never specifically talked to me about race. Our church community was predominantly Black, and while we all accepted each other for our differences, it was never directly acknowledged.
While race and racism wasn’t directly addressed by my parents, I did know that there were certain things I was taught. For instance, I wasn’t allowed to go to the mall by our house because it wasn’t safe for white people, and my parents would lock the car doors when driving through specific parts of town.
Sell it.
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Talk about racism.
Nickelodeon recently revived their “Nick News” segment, with host Alicia Keys, to talk about Kids, Race, and Unity.
What do we know about children and racism?
Children start receiving explicit and implicit messages about the meaning of race from birth and begin to show pro-white/anti-Black bias by age three (Baron & Banaji, 2006).
To counter anti-Black bias and racism, experts recommend naming and taking action against racism with kids as early and as often as possible.
— The Conscious Kid
More and more research shows that the chronic stress of experiencing and witnessing racism leads to higher rates of prematurity and infant deaths before the first birthday.
From 2013-2017, black babies died at a rate 4 times higher than white babies in Montgomery County.
Children who experience racism have higher rates of behavior problems, school absenteeism, and lower high school and college graduation rates.
— Ashaunta Anderson, MD, MPH, MSHS, FAAP & Jacqueline Dougé, MD, MPH, FAAP
“Racism is not new,” says Dr. Kenya Hameed, PsyD, a clinical neuropsychologist at the Child Mind Institute. “These are ongoing problems. It’s going to take all of us changing the mentality and the mindset to work towards a better future and fix them.”
That change, she emphasizes, can’t and won’t happen without frank, open conversation — a conversation that for most black families has never been optional. “It’s really not a choice,” says Dr. Hameed. For families of color, racism is a daily reality. “Black parents can’t wait, even if they wanted to.”
— Child Mind Institute
How can you have conversations about racism with your kids everyday?
Read Books with Black Characters
Check out this list of Coretta Scott King Book Award Winners.
“Each winter (either January or February), the Coretta Scott King Book Awards are given to outstanding African American authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults that demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values. “
Learn and Teach the Truth
The New York Times produced a series called “1619,” a collection of essays, podcasts, and photo journals.
“The 1619 Project is an ongoing initiative from The New York Times Magazine that began in August 2019, the 400th anniversary of the beginning of American slavery. It aims to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of our national narrative.
Educate and Grow from Within
This weekly podcast features Black centered voices that can help you as a parent unlearn racist behaviors and help conversations with your children.
“Fare of the Free Child is a weekly-published podcast community centering Black people, Indigenous people, and People of Color in liberatory living and learning practices. With a particular interest in unschooling and the Self-Directed Education movement, Akilah S. Richards and guests discuss the fears and the fares (costs) of raising free black and brown children in a world that tends to diminish, dehumanize, and disappear them.”
How can we teach about racism in schools?
NEA EdJustice
This group provides free, actionable resources about creating safe spaces to talk about racism in the classroom.
Blacklivesmatteratschool.com
This group provides free resources and teaching guides for talking about racial justice in the classroom.
Check out this resource guide: “The national Black Lives Matter At School coalition’s brilliant Curriculum Committee worked this year to bring you lessons for every grade level the relate to the 13 principles of Black Lives Matter. Here is the 2020 Curriculum Resource Guide–free, downloadable lessons to challenge racism, oppression and build happy and healthy classrooms. Enjoy!”
Becoming actively anti-racist
This series identifies the responsibilities of teachers and educators on the topic of racism and how to effectively change the narrative in the classroom.
“The educational system in this county is inherently racist. White-settler colonialism is the fundamentally racist, classist, and hegemonic framework of education in the U.S. This ideology gave birth to the anti-Black narrative that is baked into the foundation of the nation. What teachers should learn from the death of George Floyd is that all educators are complicit in sustaining the system responsible for his death. If you as a teacher have not committed to doing the work of understanding your internal racism, implicit bias, and prejudice, you are complicit in the deaths of Black people, and people of color broadly, across the nation. If you are not committed to the work of being actively anti-racist, you are complicit in validating the physical and spiritual murders of Black men, women, and children daily. If you espouse the ideology of colorblindness and champion the myth of meritocracy, you are complicit in the vilification and denigration of Black people in this country.”
Thought 1: Intentionally (and accurately) include Black history in school curriculum
We can all acknowledge that the version of history that we learned in school was…. Selective. We learned about white political figures, celebrated white holidays, and access to school lunches was lopsided.
Take for instance this statement from Nikita Stewart,
“"Unlike math and reading, states are not required to meet academic content standards for teaching social studies and United States history. That means that there is no consensus on the curriculum around slavery, no uniform recommendation to explain an institution that was debated in the crafting of the Constitution and that has influenced nearly every aspect of American society since.”
From this excerpt, we learn that slavery is NOT required to be included in historical timelines, thus it is not considered as essential part of curriculum. Because of this, we get end up treating slavery as just a “dot on a timeline,” rather than teaching children about the fact that the popular faces like Benjamin Franklin, Ulysses S. Grant, and George Washington. Hasan Kwame Jeffries, associate professor of history at the Ohio State University and chair of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Hard History advisory board, puts it bluntly, saying:
“We are committing educational malpractice,”
We tell stories of Southerners being caught up in the cotton business and extensively learn about the history of the cotton plant, but we often miss details like this one,
“Thomas Jefferson’s relationship with Sally Hemings, who was enslaved by him, is described as “intimacy” and an “affair.” Another passage, from the 15th edition, states: “White masters all too frequently would force their attentions on female slaves, fathering a sizable mulatto population, most of which remained enchained.” Costello noted that “it’s really a rather delicate way of describing rape.”
While we aren’t necessarily advocating for teaching 2nd graders about rape, we do know that a more accurate, less glamorized, more representative image of the past needs to be acknowledged.
Check out this graphic designed by @nina.draws.scientists to learn about some of the Black women who should be included in educational curriculums below.
Thought 2: Identify all of the ways racism manifest in the education system, and work to eradicate them.
Much like an iceberg, all of the implications of racism are not in your face. (Have you learned about microaggressions? ———-> can we connect this to the FAQ page?)
Did you know? Kevin O'Neal Cokley, Professor of Educational Psychology and African and African Diaspora Studies, University of Texas at Austin wrote about the excessive discipline Black students receive in schools:
“Black boys are almost three times as likely to be suspended than white boys, and black girls are four times as likely to be suspended than white girls. Black students’ (mis)behavior is more often criminalized compared to other students.
While black kids make up 18 percent of preschool enrollment, they represent 48 percent of students receiving one or more suspensions. Getting suspended matters because it is correlated with being referred to law enforcement and arrested. Black students account for 27 percent of students who are referred to law enforcement and 31 percent of students who are arrested, while they only make up 18 percent of enrolled students. As a general rule, black students do not often receive the benefit of the doubt when they engage in bad or questionable behavior.”
On top of more disciplinary issues, Black children and other minorities are excluded from programs that are designed for “gifted” students. This is the result of a bunch of things, including the fact that white teachers more actively identify gifted white students. Nadra Kareem Niddle writes about this, noting:
“Poor children and children from minority groups are not only less likely to be identified as gifted and talented but more likely to be identified as requiring special education services by teachers.
When children of color have teachers of color, the chances are higher that they will be identified as gifted. This indicates that white teachers largely overlook giftedness in black and brown children.”
She goes on to identify the psychological impacts these circumstances have on Black children, including discrimination they face and trauma they have due to their appearances:
“Students of color face racial microaggressions in schools as well, such as being criticized by teachers and administrators for wearing their hair in styles that reflect their cultural heritage. Both black students and Native American students have been reprimanded in schools for wearing their hair in its natural state or in braided styles.”
Let’s not forget about how the school system makes tokens out of Black children, especially during times like Black History Month or Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Akilah Obviously made a satirical video to highlight what it’s like to be a Black child, the toll it takes, and how it feels for them.
Could you argue that we are setting Black and other minority children up for failure in the current educational system?
The popular children’s channel has created multiple resources for parents who need help having conversations about racism with their kids.
Embracerace.org gives us a 4 step formula:
Start early. The earlier, the better.
Let your children see you do your own work.
Learn about others and about yourself.
Raise a changemaker.