Hey y’all! Here‘s an article I wrote for the Washington Post about being a white parent trying to explain racism and privilege to my white kid. It’s something that I’ve been thinking about for quite a while, but in light of what’s happening in Ferguson it now seems incredibly urgent.
Excerpt:
“Find books, movies, television shows that feature a diverse cast of characters, and make sure that these forms of media aren’t falling into the trap of tokenism, i.e. having mainly white lead characters with a few background characters of different races or ethnicities. If you notice that some of your child’s favorite books or shows involve problematic depictions of race, talk to them about it and try to have a conversation about what you wish was done differently in this particular story.”
The Belle Jar 
Do you have the date it was published or can you post it for us to read?
Here’s the link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/parenting/wp/2014/09/04/talking-to-small-children-about-race/
Thanks for the fast response
The article is very useful, thank you. Trying to raise children in a 99% white town, I am often conscious of how sheltered their upbringing is (as was mine) and how vulnerable that leaves them to unintentionally offending or hurting people. I remember seeing my first non-white person at university (!) and staring out of curiosity and then feeling mortified.
Interesting and I think we can all call out ‘tokenism’ when we see it in media. I would say deaf I think saying we should just celebrate diversity simplistically assumes that the diversity in question always involves values that we can accommodate. Near me, some communities are openly misogynist and homophobic. Hard to celebrate that.
Reblogged this on Conversations I Wish I Had.
the arcicle e¡is very useful, thank you