It Shouldn’t Be A Debate Whether Kids Should Be Taught About Racism
Child education about racism is not brainwashing, it is awareness, consciousness and the human experience
The very popular kids program, Sesame Street, and CNN are collaborating on a show addressing racism. The show “Coming Together: Standing Up to Racism” has garnered attention and there has been banter about how sensitive a topic like racism is for kids to learn.
I really don’t think it is a bad idea for little kids to be taught about racism, and I’ll tell you why:
Advocacy as an adult starts from the values you learn as a child
Till today, some white parents still hide under the ignorance that racism doesn’t exist. They pull up pseudo statistics just to justify the bliss of their ignorance to the plight of the minority around them. This kind of attitude would definitely not be normalized if we had a generation that were raised on the values of equality and the awareness of racism.
White fragility and white guilt today is a bye-product of the lack of anti-discrimination upbringing in predominantly white communities. The youths of today see the injustice so clearly, but simply choose the path of inaction because as little kids the topic never seemed to be that important to them.
Yes, white adults unlearning the bias they were taught as children is a good way to start, but the truth is we wouldn’t have people who don’t feel accountable to advocate for justice if we raised them with the truth in the first place. We wouldn’t have a society where the majority prefer to be cloaked in their ‘innocence’ while the minority keep crying out to be heard.
Black and POC kids are subjected to the experience of racism
Nothing beats reality. You may prefer to remain in fantasy land, but when you’re done, remember that from a very tender age black and POC kids are exposed to the reality of racism, and this trauma is very much real in their communities.
Philando Castile was driving with his partner Diamond Reynolds and her four-year-old daughter when their vehicle was pulled over by officer Jeronimo Yanez in Larpenteur Avenue, Falcon Heights, Minnesota. He was shot seven times. Diamond Reynolds' daughter, Dae’Anna, was at the backseat all through this horrific incident, and had to face this trauma at such a young age with her mother.
The least ‘privileged’ kids can do as members of a much larger society is be obligated to learn about the reality, and the awareness of racism. Little kids can’t be shielded from racism, and then expected to do better than their parents when they’re grown. Yes, education is key, but it should be holistic, not just subjective to immediate environment.
The times don’t matter that much when the system of enlightenment doesn’t change that much. This is why we wonder how the same things keep happening, even in the ‘21st Century’. It’s not so shocking because though the new generations are getting more education, the bias still lingers, and tokenizing black and POC won’t change that, a new system could.
Identity politics like ‘white guilt’ and ‘white fragility’ that justify inaction and prevent necessary criticism, has to change. We can’t keep immersing ourselves in ‘justifiable ignorance’ while the society continues to rot and injustice continues to mount the podium.
Children should be taught to acknowledge their racial identity
From a very young age, children start developing an awareness of what happens around them. Ideologies like Santa and ‘God’ gets fed to them, and the values that come with it causes the children to express themselves in a certain manner. You can even see this in how they treat their toys and animals. This is the stage kids need to learn about racism, not when it’s comfortable for them but when they are capable of its awareness.
Racial identity comes from accepting the responsibility that comes with your reality.
The superior attitude, “white is right,” often leaves whites confused about their identity. …Because United States culture is centered around white norms, white people rarely have to come to terms with that part of their identity. Judy Katz.
White people don’t see themselves as ‘white’, and this gives them a ‘pass’ when denying their culpability in perpetuating the system. By being oblivious to your identity, you can also disown your racism. This identity crisis causes whites to treat minorities poorly, sometimes without even knowing it. They only see themselves as ‘individuals’ and so blur the collective responsibility they are consequently part of.
Lack of understanding of self owing to a poor sense of identity causes whites to develop a negative attitude toward minorities on both a conscious and an unconscious level. Judy Katz.
The illusion of ‘white-centredness’, is what the white child gets immersed in, which is clearly far from the reality of the society he/she is growing up in. Being taught about racism is so crucial for the little kids developing an awareness of this illusion.
Children who develop in this way (white-centredness) are robbed of opportunities for emotional and intellectual growth, stunted in the basic development of the self, so that they cannot experience or accept humanity. Abraham Citron.
Shielding your kids from learning about racism is not only going to lead to their inaction as adults to advocate racial equality, but it also could blur their reality and awareness of the human experience that truly surrounds them. Humanity is much larger than we think, and little kids should be allowed to understand, express, experience and feel that.
Child education about racism is not brainwashing, it is awareness, consciousness and the human experience.
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