Raising an Anti-Racist Child

Do you want to be part of the solution to the inequity that exists in our country? If so, one of the best things you can do is raise your child to be anti-racist. Join our conversation with Tiffany Jewell, the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, This Book is Anti-Racist and The Anti-Racist Kid.

In this episode, we cover:

I think most parents would say they want to raise an anti-racist child, but saying is easier than doing?
At what age do kids notice race? And does this age differ in the US depending on the child’s skin color?
Why not teach our kids to be colorblind?
How do the books we read, the movies we watch, the friends we make, the doctors we visit, and the conversations we have at home all shape our children’s views of race?
What’s the difference between not being racist and being anti-racist?
Is there a difference between how a White parent and a Black parent should approach raising an anti-racist child?
Practical Tips for Parents:
- Supplement your child’s education with books and documentaries.
- Don’t shy away from conversations about race.
- Use books: Look for a wide variety of genres and voices when choosing your children’s books:
  - Black main characters that are positive
  - Asian, Latinx, East Asian, and Indigenous main characters
  - Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC) characters in everyday life
  - BIPOC characters overcoming oppression/racism
  - Black and white kids crossing a racial divide and showing positive interactions across differences
  - A mix of books set in the past and the present
  - A mix of fiction and biographies
  - Books that specifically talk about racism
  - Give particular emphasis to authors who share the same race as their characters.
- Use professionals of color: doctors, dentists, dry cleaners, etc.
- Join your P.T.A., go to school board meetings, learn more about the curriculum and how the history of race and racism is taught in your schools.

Resources:

The Anti-Racist Kid by Tiffany Jewell
4 Tips to Raising an Anti-Racist Kid by Creating a Family
Resources for finding great children’s books:
- Diverse Book Finder is a fantastic website that allows you to search for children’s books based on specific categories (e.g., biographies, oppression/resistance; crossing divides, etc.), race/culture (e.g., African American, brown-skinned but race unidentified, Latinx, Asian, Middle Eastern, Bi/Multiracial, etc.), country, religion, etc.
- The Brown Bookshelf highlights Black voices writing for young readers.
- The Conscious Kid is an education, research, and policy organization that promotes children’s books centered on underrepresented and oppressed groups. They have a book of the month subscription service and a terrific list of books by Black authors that center, reflect, and affirm Black children of all ages. You can also follow them on Instagram to learn about these books.
- Jane Addams Peace Association, Children’s Book Awards
EmbraceRace.org – Resource site formed by black and multi-racial parents with tools for parenting kids of color.
One Talk at a Time – Providing support for Latinx American, Asian American, African American, and Black youth and their families to have conversations about race and ethnicity. In recognition that the issues may differ depending on the ethnicity, they have a separate section for Black, Asian, and Latinx parents.
Creating a Family’s Transracial Adoption resource page – a variety of resources specific to families created through transracial adoption. We have an extensive collection of blog posts, news articles, expert Q & A’s, and radio shows/podcasts specific to multi-racial families formed through adoption.
Between the World and Me – by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Written as a letter to his teenage son about being Black in the United States.
The Antiracist Baby by Ibram X. Kendi.
Raising Antiracist Children: A Practical Parenting Guide by Britt Hawthorne with Natasha Yglesias
Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor by Layla Saad and Robin DiAngelo