My 6 year old Guatemala born son, Gabe, and I have an evening ritual. After we read books and turn out the lights each night, we have a little conversation about our day. We ask each other for "favorite" and "least favorite" moments of the day. Sometimes we play "Two Truths and a Lie", where we say 3 things about our day and the other has to guess which, of the 3, is the lie. Last night, our evening conversation evolved into things we would change, if we could, about the world. Gabe said he would make "ticks extinct" and he would invent a special potion to rid the world of "mosquitoes". I'm not certain where his bug disdain came from, but it was a distinct theme. During my turn, I suggested that I would eliminate prejudice, which I defined in what I thought was good kid language as "when people tend to not like those look differently from them". I thought it was a moment to prepare him for both the reality of prejudice against those with darker skin tone as well as the opportunity we have to make our world a better place. Gabe's immediate response surprised me as he exclaimed, "I thought John Luther King took care of that". It took me a moment to recover from the cuteness factor and to respond, well "Martin Luther King, Jr. did a lot of work to change laws and helped us make a lot of progress"...but there is still work to do in people's hearts.
How does a 6 year old already believe that race relations were fixed 40 years before he was born? How will his perspective be impacted when he comes upon the realities of modern day race relations? Specifically, that he will, at some point in time, be treated in a particular way due to his ethnicity? It strikes me that Gabe's response is reminiscent of a lot of adults. Didn't we fix all that race stuff in the 1960's? I don't think so. But how do we honor both progress and the need for change? And do so in a way that both honors our predecessors who have instilled progress and also galvanize future generations to overcome cynicism and seek change?
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2 comments:
Hi Cynthia!
Nice to find you in the blogsphere... I saw you comment on Val's blog :) It always surprises me the thought-provoking things kids say, and I was blown away by Gabe's comment about racism. Sadly, it IS so typical of the adult population to believe that we took care of that in the 60s and that racism is a thing of the past. I took an Institutional Racism class at Temple this fall and became even more discouraged at the state of racism in this country and how entrenched it is not only in our policies but in people's unconscious attitudes. My prof expressed hope for my generation, but if Gabe's generation is already being socialized to believe racism is no longer a problem, we still have a ways to go...
Sorry to have such a downer post - next time I'll write something more cheery :)
~Peace~
Amanda
Amanda,
Thanks so much for your comment. I too have been discouraged by the prevailing attitude that racism is a largely historical reality. Having pondered this among young adults, I was stunned by Gabe's response. I wonder how me might reconsider how we teach about race relations in order to affirm progress but acknowledge the present brokenness.
Peace,
Cynthia
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