Children aren't born racist, but they become racist quickly. How can we help?

[OneGrassRoot]

https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2012/06/09/harvard-researcher-says-children-learn-racism-quickly/gWuN1ZG3M40WihER2kAfdK/story.html

New research not yet published by Mahzarin Banaji, a renowned Harvard University psychologist, brain researcher, and racism and physical prejudice expert, and colleagues suggests that even though they may not understand the “why’’ of their feelings, children exposed to racism tend to accept and embrace it as young as age 3, and in just a matter of days.

“We have known for a very long time that children process information differently than adults. That is a given,’’ says Banaji. “But what has changed, where racism and other prejudice are concerned, is that we had far over-calculated how long it takes for these traits to become imbedded in a child’s brain. It’s quite shocking really, but the gist of it is that 3- and 4-year-olds demonstrate the same level and type of bias as adults. This tells us that children ‘get it’ very, very quickly, and that it doesn’t require a mature level of cognition to form negative biases.

I was pondering the article I posted yesterday -- http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027662408, "I'm a black man who just spoke with a former white supremacist" -- specifically what turned the racist around was his young daughter, and experiencing empathy for the first time in his life. I wondered how we can directly focus on this sickness, not only for the very young children born and raised in racist environments but for their families.

I posted the following earlier today on social media:

If we look at the hatred that has been coming to the surface over the last 8 years, and now what we see at Trump rallies, I think most people recognize that we're not remotely a post-racial or post-bigotry society. Based on my 52 years of experience and close observation of these beliefs throughout my life, having lived various places in the US, I believe at least one-third of our citizenry holds deeply ingrained beliefs of bigoted supremacism (they feel they're superior due to skin color, gender, religion, etc.). Certainly some express it openly as we are now seeing at these rallies, but MANY more agree with what they see and hear at Trump rallies, or right-wing radio, etc., but only speak of it in the privacy of their own homes.

There are anti-racist/bigotry/bullying programs for young children via teachers who receive such training. But from what I have seen, all of these programs require supportive parents...parents who do NOT hold such views. There are parents who don't hold blatantly supremacist views but simply don't know how to speak of these matters to their children, and these programs are very helpful and effective in those situations.

But what about the 30% of people who are parents, or may soon be parents, or are grandparents or influence young children in other ways with their hate-filled beliefs?

How do we protect and empower children who are raised in a racist, bigoted environment?

It is rare to break free of that; to be accepted, most children go along with their parents' beliefs. We see it all the time: "I vote Republican/Democratic because my parents did, or I'm (insert religion here) because I was raised that way." Children tend to model their home environment. Children even learn that even though they hear a lot of racist, bigoted talk at home, it's not to be repeated in public. But that worldview becomes part of them, as does the internal conflict of having beliefs that must be hidden.

Does anyone know of any existing programs which have that family dynamic built into the teachings, so that the children are not affected by that destructive sickness or at least are given tools to model or even teach their own parents empathy?



Most of the replies talked about how people tend to broaden their horizons when they travel or go off to college, but in my experience the environment in which you're raised -- when you have a desire to be an accepted member of the family -- sticks with you. Plus, not everyone has the privilege of travel or even going away to DIVERSE colleges.

Having been raised in an extraordinarily racist home and environment and being the anomaly in that I pushed back against that worldview, I have witnessed the hate filter down from generation to generation.

I even wrote Jane Elliott (Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes) and, amazingly, she replied but her comments were eye opening but discouraging as well. Here is a portion of her message to me:

I remember being told in education courses at the college level that the parents of the children we are teaching are paying our wages through their taxes, and they have the right to have those children taught what they want them to learn. I was also told not to teach in opposition to the local mores. In other words, if you are teaching in a racist community, teach racism. I thought it was wrong, then, and I think it's equally wrong, now. But don't doubt for a minute that it's the message that is being sent to teachers on a daily basis. Teachers do what they have to do to keep their jobs: Educators lead students out of ignorance. There is a huge difference.

It is my firm belief that there should be master educators (not teachers with masters degrees, but educators who have superior skills) at the sixth-grade level, in every school, whose job it is to use the BE/BE exercise with their students every year. There isn't a doubt in my mind that we could drastically decrease the level of racism in this country in a few short years.

I know tackling this issue involves various institutions and systems, all of which are inherently racist and biased in many ways, so there isn't an easy answer.

But I hadn't thought of it from the perspective of someone like myself and how I grew up until today:

How can we equip young children to battle racism and bigotry and other forms of bullying being modeled at home? I suppose another way to look at it is how can we help children who are being raised by bullies? The bullying is always, at its core, due to fear -- usually fear of The Other -- but the violence on all levels against innocents manifests regardless.

What can we do?

[Liberty Belle]

1. Get them back into public school systems. Racists tend to homeschool or send kids to charters.

Of course there are some good charters out there, and a few people have valid reasons to home school.

But the white supremacist groups encourage their members to homeschool their kids or put them into schools where they can be indoctrinated or at least not taught tolerance.

We should be investing in making every public school a good school, and make it hard to opt out. Require that the curriculum teaches tolerance of people of all races, religions, etc.

The other big factor is media. If we restored the fairness doctrine and could figure out a way to get hate speech off the airways it would be a big help. Too many kids are being raised hearing only one-sided conservative media, fueling that simmering rage and bigotry.

[bhikkhu]

4. Assuming that teachers aren't racists...

Its probably a safe enough assumption most places, as racism and education don't mix well, but I am in the process of getting my daughter out of her public high school in favor of a charter, partly because of the deficits at her school on the teaching side. A fairly institutionalized homophobia, misogyny, and racism, and a bias against non-biblical science to be specific.

[surrealAmerican]

2. My gut feeling, and it's only a gut feeling ...

... I don't know if there is data somewhere to back it up, is that a diverse environment, starting at a very early age, can help.

Diversity in preschool could well be more important than diversity in university.

[RufusTFirefly]

3. Yes! Racism is easier when the other group is an abstraction

If you go to school with kids of different colors and ethnic backgrounds, you quickly learn that they're all kids, although there can be cultural differences that can sometimes create friction. Some kids find differences fascinating, while others see them as threatening.

Of course, kids brought up in a homogeneous environment aren't doomed to be racist. Parental influence can be key.

[OneGrassRoot]

5. Monday morning kick. n/t

[Baobab]

6. Canada is less racist than the US, Ive been told

Also, the level of racism varies substantially by area. I spent much of my adult life in Northern Calif, which seems less racist than many other parts of the US, at least my own friends - who were both young and older people were. However there are "ghetto-like" areas of high violence there, (Oakland, Richmond, East Palo Alto, etc.)

Like Canada, Europe - for example, France, used to be far less racist than the US, basically, black people could be themselves, without people seeing them first as "Black" and only second as "Mike" or "Danni".