This is the thing that some people hate each other over.
Let's face it- there are a lot of problems with how today's society functions. And, sadly, a lot of these problems revolve around the issue of race. A few days ago, my five-year-old Haitian brother, Donsley, came home from kindergarten crying because he wanted his hair to look like everyone else's. He then went upstairs and applied my mom's makeup all over his face and arms to "make himself pretty." Another family-friend who also has a child of color, living in a different town, has confided in our family that students have told their daughter her skin is the "color of poop." I suppose that for a five-year-old, the only black kid in the entire school, his English poor and virtually oblivious to his racial situation, is the perfect object of bullying. But are these other kindergarteners, and American children in general, racist, or just toying with race- something there parents have talked little about to them, and something they have been taught not to speak of, not to notice? This problem of racism needs to be solved, needs to be talked about, and fast.
Students do not experience a lot of diversity within schools, which is
one of the reasons for this supposed racism among young children.
The studies of Rebecca Bigler and her colleagues have shown that "nearly all White mothers in their research study adopted a “colormute”/ “colorblind” approach when discussing a book that was either directly or indirectly about race with their 4-5 year old children; most chose not to discuss race at all." On the surface, this makes sense to me: don't discuss something with your child, and they won't talk about it, they won't notice it. However, children are not colorblind. In fact, children whose parents do not discuss race with them are more likely to point out differences they see in others and are more likely to appear "racist.".
So how do we make sure the children of today are not racist, for lack of a better term? When a child notices a difference in someone, that someone's skin is darker than their's or that their hair is more straight or more curly, acknowledge that they are right. Talk to your kids about race so that they are educated about the topic, not left wondering why it is such a big deal.
Let's stop pretending we're colorblind, because we're not. There is black and there is white, and everybody can see that. We need to teach are kids that these differences are okay, that they are normal. Not discussing the problem doesn't make these issues go away, and it doesn't make everybody's skin the same color. I'm not saying the problem will go away when we start talking about it, but I'm sure that it will start to get better.
Ellie-
ReplyDeleteI completely agree, I think that race is something that needs to be both acknowledged and accepted from a young age. Last year in one of my classes we watched a video of kindergarten aged children and they were given a black doll and a white doll and asked to share with the camera which doll they thought was prettier. Each and every kid, whether white or of color said that the white doll was prettier because it looked cleaner or nicer or more like most of the girls in their class. The kids were then asked to identify which doll they thought looked more like them. Again, shockingly most of the children (both black and white) claimed that they could identify more with the white doll. When they had to explain why many of them struggled. Some said because nobody would want to look like the black doll because it was mean. I don’t think this is right, if children are ashamed to admit their race at such a young age they will never gain self confidence and will advance through life without self respect and dignity. I think it is important that racial diversity is embraced as soon as early in life as possible, and that children understand both the differences and similarities that they share with other kids no matter what race.