Equipping Parents to Discuss Racism With Their Children

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a heart, home, and globe symbolizing that racism needs to be addressed in our hearts, our homes, and across the world
Image from Oh Happy Dani

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil, cling to what is good.

When our children call to us, we answer them. Moms, a whole race of moms and their children are calling out for help. Will we, as the universal sisterhood of motherhood, answer them? If we don’t, who will? Our role as moms is to promote, nurture, and sustain life, in all its shapes and forms. Motherhood should mean safety and home. Moms of color, we see you, and we hear you, and we are heartbroken alongside you. We denounce racism and all associated forms of discrimination. We commit to remain a safe space where the voice of moms can be heard.

Here is a list of resources recommended by our team that can help facilitate discussions about race with your children: 

Your Kids Aren’t Too Young to Talk About Race 

So you’ve realized your kids aren’t too young to talk about race, so now what? We’ve rounded up some resources for you to start.

Raising Luminaries

Our mission is to raise the next generation of kind and brilliant leaders. Our method is to light the path for those who follow.

 

White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism, by Robin DiAngelo

“Racial stress results from an interruption to what is racially familiar. In turn, whites are often at a loss for how to respond in constructive ways, as we have not had to build the cognitive or affective skills or develop the stamina that would allow for constructive engagement across racial divides, leading to what I refer to as White Fragility. White Fragility is a state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive moves.”

 

Teaching Tolerance: Diversity, Equity, and Justice

Our mission is to help teachers and schools educate children and youth to be active participants in a diverse democracy.

Teaching Tolerance provides free resources to educators—teachers, administrators, counselors, and other practitioners who work with children from kindergarten through high school. Educators use our materials to supplement the curriculum, inform their practices, and create civil and inclusive school communities where children are respected, valued, and welcome participants.

 

Zinn Education Project

The Zinn Education Project promotes and supports the teaching of people’s history in classrooms across the country. For more than ten years, the Zinn Education Project has introduced students to a more accurate, complex, and engaging understanding of history than is found in traditional textbooks and curricula. 

 

We Stories – St. Louis

We Stories’ engages White families to change the conversation about and build momentum towards racial equity in St. Louis.

Our 12-week Family Learning Program introduces parents and their children (from birth to age 10) to compelling works of children’s literature featuring diverse characters. It provides supportive resources and materials to help start and strengthen family conversations about race and racism, and fosters community building around these topics. Many parents use this opportunity to open up new conversations and establish family socialization patterns that reflect on what they learned about race: when, where, and from whom. Together we re-examine the choices we’ve made and those made for us and their impact on our children and our region.