This Martin Luther King, Jr. Day seems weighted with extra meaning in the wake of events in Ferguson, Missouri and elsewhere that have brought increased attention on our country’s racial inequalities. The problem is daunting, with no single or simple solution. One thing we parents can do, however, is to talk with our children about racism and Dr. King’s legacy—not just today, but all year long.
Here are four resources for talking with kids about racism, from four different perspectives.
- “Teaching Kids About Martin Luther King, Jr.” by Denene Millner of My Brown Baby, is woven with her own family history—her father who left segregated rural Virginia as a teen in 1955 to avoid Jim Crow laws.
- “How to Talk to Kids About Racism,” by CNN’s Jamie Gumbrecht, takes us into classrooms and shares how some teachers are addressing racism as well as bias related to gender and sexuality. It mentions HRC’s Welcoming Schools program, among other resources.
- “How to Teach Kids About Race,” by Madeleine Rogin, gives us the perspective of a kindergarten teacher who is also the White mother of two multiracial girls. (Their father is Ghanaian.)
- “Teaching Tolerance: How white parents should talk to their young kids about race,” by Melinda Wenner Moyer at Slate, offers suggestions for how White parents with White children can raise them to be good allies.
How have you talked with your kids about racism, either that directed at themselves or at others?