Talk about it openly.
Start by teaching your kids that ignoring skin color or pretending we don’t see it means that we are not seeing people clearly.
Being color blind means that we have blinders on to the inequalities and injustices of the racial divide. Help them see subtle instances of racism within ourselves, even people who are actively trying to dismantle it. Explain that it’s more difficult for a Black person to get a job just because of their name or their hair. Talk about the news and point out that white people can protest with guns at the capitol without incident and a Black man who kneels peacefully in protest is called a “son of a bitch” by the president.
Most importantly, teach your kids – even in your awkward, halting, unpracticed words – to stand up against racism and make it part of the conversations you weave into your life with them at every age.
Guide them to be the change we need.
Make it clear that standing by and saying nothing means they are giving tacit acceptance to that treatment.
“Raise your kids to courageously stand up when they see injustice against a Black person,” says my friend, business owner and writer James Oliver on his site TrepLifeDad. “In the George Floyd video, I saw a Black person complaining to the police about what they saw. But Black people don’t have the same ‘privileges’ as white people. Maybe George Floyd would be alive today if one of those other white officers on the scene had a mother who taught her/him that Black people are human.”
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Need a resource? Check out this one from Krystle Cobran: 3 Tools for Talking to Kids About Race
The beauty of anti-racism is that you don’t have to pretend to be free of racism to be an anti-racist. Anti-racism is the commitment to fight racism wherever you find it, including in yourself. And it’s the only way forward. – Ijeoma Oluo
