Like so many others, I’ve spent so much time in the last couple of weeks watching the news and listening to the brave men and women who have come forward and risked their lives to speak out against the abhorrent deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and so many other unarmed men and women of color at the hands of the police. As a mom (and, honestly, just as a person), I’ve been so outraged and upset about these deaths. How anyone could watch that video, hear George Floyd call out to his mama, and not be broken-hearted and outraged is beyond me.
As a mom of two very privileged 5 year old boys, I have intentionally focused on raising my kids so that they are not racist. I’ve actively sought out kids books with people with all different skin colors to read to them, we’ve discussed the President’s wall and why we don’t believe people should be discriminated against based on the color of their skin, and we often talk about how important it is to accept everyone, regardless of their skin colors, disabilities, size and physical appearance.
But I now recognize that this is simply not enough. Raising my boys not to be racist is not the same as raising them to be anti-racist.
So, I’m working on that. We’re having difficult, but age-appropriate conversations. I recognize that even being able to have age-appropriate discussions about this is a privilege. I’m trying to push my comfort level and discuss what is going on with my kids and expose them to these topics and to what others are facing and teach them to be allies.
On Saturday, we participated in a Black Lives Matter protest and it was a powerful experience. We’ve taken the boys to multiple protests now. The women’s marches felt empowering. The anti-Trump immigration marches felt urgent and frustrating. The march we participated in for Black Lives Matter and justice on Saturday felt different than any of the others. It felt emotional, heartbreaking, unbelievably urgent and overdue, and like just the tip of the iceberg.
So much reform is needed now. Yesterday. Many years ago.
It’s on all of us to make the very much-needed and overdue change happen.
The boys had a lot of questions throughout the march, and I tried to answer all of them honestly and openly, while still being age appropriate. But it certainly made clear to me that I need help in teaching them about this.
So one simple thing I can do now is add a number of books to our library. I scoured all the lists I could find of anti-racist books for 5 year olds, asked friends for recommendations, and found 6 books with which to start.
We’ve received four of them so far, and I already feel like the boys have learned so much.
I highly recommend:
- Intersection Allies, by Chelsea Johnson, LaToya Council, and Carolyn Choi
- The Day You Begin, by Jacqueline Woodson
- Equality’s Call, by Deborah Diesen
- Celebrations Around the World, by Katy Halford
I’ve also ordered the following books, but I haven’t received them yet:
If you have any suggestions of other books to add to our library, I would love to hear them.
In the meantime, we’re listening. We’re learning. We’re donating. And we’re speaking out. To remain silent right now is simply not an option.