My three children are biracial (White/African American.) I teach them that everyone is different and always be kind to others. I can’t say it doesn’t scare me a little raising them in a predominantly white area. People who have never experienced racism always seem to believe that “it’s 2017, it’s not like it used to be” but, in reality, it definitely is. It breaks my heart to think that my children might be subjected to bullying, simply due to the color of their skin.
A few months ago I picked up my son from preschool. While we were in the car we were going over everything he did that day. What did you learn? What was your favorite part? What was your least favorite part? When I got to the last question, my baby boy said, “The kids at school said I couldn’t play with them because I’m brown” I immediately felt a tear run down my face but quickly wiped it because I didn’t want him to see me upset. I asked him if he told his teacher and he told me no and that he just went and sat down by himself. I can’t even explain the feeling I felt in my chest knowing my four year old just went through this. I explained to him that those kids were wrong for doing that and I was going to have a talk with his teacher. I hugged him longer than I ever have that night and we talked about what to do in those situations.
I called the school and let them know what happened. The next day I got a phone call saying they talked to the child and his parents. The parents told the teacher that he “probably just heard his grandparents talking like that” In my head I screamed WTF!?
In that moment I realized I need to be having way more talks with my children about racism and life and everything else. We just need to be talking about it WAY more and how to handle it or how to respond to it.
It scares me because being a white female, I’ve never dealt with these things before and I don’t want to tell them the wrong thing, but I WILL ALWAYS tell them I will always be on their side and I will always protect them as much as I can.
It’s so sad to me that people go through this every day! The best thing I feel like I can do, is keep talking and bringing attention to it.
Mom Of Three 