Before my husband and I welcomed our nearly 5-year-old daughter into the world, we thought a lot about how we’d raise her. We talked about wanting to instill in her the values our parents taught us, like kindness, curiosity, creativity, and fairness. Like all new parents, we had dreams for who our child could become. Yet, in all of our conversations, we never discussed how we’d teach her about race and, moreover, how to reject racism.
I thought those lessons would arise naturally over time, particularly in the classroom. We also assumed that simply holding progressive beliefs about equality meant our daughter would inherit the same world view. Though my husband is white and our daughter presents as white, I felt I brought unique understanding of racism to our family as the daughter of a Mexican-American father. I understand the pain inflicted by casual and institutional racism, even if I haven’t experienced it viscerally because of my light skin color. I believed such insight meant I’d know how to raise an antiracist child. Read more...
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