Racebending.com

We all want our children to grow up embracing diversity. Americans hold dearly the principle that all are created equal and that, beneath our skin, we are all essentially the same.

For many parents, this means encouraging colorblindness. The fear is that emphasizing race and difference will instill values of discrimination. By not discussing – or even mentioning – race, children will grow up understanding that race isn’t important and that character is what matters.

In 2006, Birgitte Vittrup of the University of Texas conducted a study with one hundred Caucasian children, aged 5 to 7. The goal was to determine what impact parenting had on the children’s views on race.

The parents in the study lived in Austin, a famously multicultural American city. All the parents advocated and embraced diversity. But very few of them had ever spoken to their children directly about race and difference.

They wanted their children to grow up colorblind. But Vittrup’s first test of the kids revealed they weren’t colorblind at all. Asked how many white people are mean, these children commonly answered, “Almost none.” Asked how many blacks are mean, many answered, “Some,” or “A lot.” Even kids who attended diverse schools answered the questions this way.

More disturbing, Vittrup also asked all the kids a very blunt question: “Do your parents like black people?” Fourteen percent said outright, “No, my parents don’t like black people”; 38 percent of the kids answered, “I don’t know.” In this supposed race-free vacuum being created by parents, kids were left to improvise their own conclusions—many of which would be abhorrent to their parents.”

NEWSWEEK, September 5, 2009 – article by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman

In the absence of direct guidance, the children learned about race through their social environment – through friends, media, and observation. Children notice race, see that people of different colors are sometimes treated differently.

Parents have a huge influence on their children. Unfortunately, simply ignoring the topic of race only teaches children that the subject is taboo.

It’s not enough to say that “everyone is equal” or “discrimination is wrong.” Those concepts are too complex for young kids to understand. Explicit, direct statements about race and skin color work best.

[Parents] work very hard to counterprogram against boy-girl stereotypes. That ought to be our model for talking about race. The same way we remind our daughters, “Mommies can be doctors just like daddies,” we ought to be telling all children that doctors can be any skin color. It’s not complicated what to say. It’s only a matter of how often we reinforce it.”

NEWSWEEK, September 5, 2009 – article by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman

Only by speaking with our children about race can we ensure they will grow up understanding the value and beauty of diversity. Because we all hope for a better future, we have much to gain by pointing out the wrongs of the present.

The last thing we want is for children to learn that race relations in America are “the way things are” – without ever learning about the way things should be.