Resources for Talking to Kids About Race & Racism

The organization Embrace Race has been conducting a series of webinars on talking to kids about race and racism, and supporting the leadership and activism of young people organizing for racial justice.  The following webinars are available to watch and may be helpful in talking to the children and youth in our lives about equity and anti-racism:

How NOT to raise kids who are quick to call police on people of color

In our social media age, the figure of the "entitled White woman" who calls the police on people of color, especially Black people, simply for living their lives has become so common that she has become a meme. In a week also marked by the 100,000th official COVID-19 death in the United States and the death of a Black man, George Floyd, at the hands (and knee) of a White Minneapolis police officer, Amy Cooper took her place in that long, infamous line of White women. We believe that relatively few people would have behaved as Amy Cooper did that morning in her Central Park encounter with Christian Cooper (no relation) on the morning of May 25th. But it is self-serving for the rest of us to believe that we have nothing in common with her. The truth is that the attitudes and impulses made manifest in her behavior are pervasive, and she wasn't born with them; she learned them.

Andrew and Melissa of EmbraceRace.org talk to Jennifer Harvey about what the parents of White children, in particular, can do to ensure they're not raising white children who are quick to call the police on Black and Indigenous people and people of color.

"I [still] can't breath": Supporting kids of color amidst racialized violence

Black, Brown, Native peoples, poor people – we talk with our children about how to interact with police. We file formal complaints against abusive officers. (Derek Chauvin had at least SEVENTEEN complaints on his record before his encounter with George Floyd.) We take cell phone videos that go viral. We share our stories with media outlets. We file lawsuits. We protest, allies at our side. If it were altogether up to us to stop the racialized violence directed against us, we’d be having a completely different conversation.

With COVID-19 as backdrop, some predict a “long, hot summer.” Others see a promising new determination by many Whites to become a vigorous part of the solution. In this complicated context, what conversations about policing, violence, safety, justice, and race should we be having with our children of color? Join us for that conversation and Q & A with child psychologist Dr. Allison Briscoe-Smith.

"Rays of Hope": Supporting the leadership & activism of our young people

A Talking Race & Kids conversation about how parents, teachers, and other adults in the lives of children can support their activism and advocacy while keeping them safe and managing our own fears for their emotional and physical safety.