“Something serious happened in our city. News on television, radio and the Internet. Adults did not believe that young children knew, however, young people in The elegance of Miss Garcia heard the elders communicate about it and they mattered.”
This is the beginning of the storybook, Something Happened in Our Town: A Child’s Story about Racial Injustice. Authors Marianne Celano, Marietta Collins and Ann Hazzard wrote the book to encourage parent-child conversations about race. But it could just as well be the musings of any Black child or child of color growing up amidst and witnessing racialized violence.
According to Dr. Sandra “Chap” Chapman, educator and founder of Chap Equity, these occasions are rooted in the history of racism in our country. And its effect on young people can be global.
UNICEF stands for the right of every child around the world to succeed to its full potential. But centuries of racism chapman calls “unre healed and untreated” threaten the rights of blacks and young people of color here in the United States. “We’ve noticed a replacement in many communities,” Chapman says. “But we’re not done with the formula of oppression that is personal, interpersonal, institutional and formulated.”
Here, Chapman explains how young people are dealing with COVID-19’s double pandemic and racism. It also gives recommendations on how colored parents can empower their children, teach them to identify and resist racism, and help build friendships and communities that they and their identities.
“We have noticed a replacement in many communities. But we have ended with the formula of oppression that is personal, interpersonal, institutional and formula.
What do we know about the effect racism has on black people and other people of color?
Dr. SANDRA CHAPMAN: Researchers, activists, educators and psychologists have long written about the history of racism. Dr. Derald Wing Sue has performed a super task on the cumulative effect of microagresions on intellectual health. Dr. Claude Steele explains how young color hypervigilants can anticipate threats of stereotypes at school and especially check situations. The Perception Institute has conducted studies and reported on the effect of racial anxiety on other people’s mindsets: they would possibly feel central palpitations, their eyes would freeze and begin to sweat. For centuries, careers have affected the well-being of other people of color, our health, our educational success, our ability to obtain land, and our employment opportunities.
“Parents want to be aware that through social media, stories shared in peer groups, or conversations heard at home, youth and youth can relive the violence and trauma of this violence without adult supervision.
As a diversity practitioner, mother and active member of your community, how do you think young blacks and young people of color face the individual and massive traumas created through COVID-19 and the emotional calculation that followed the Murder of George Floyd?
Dr. SANDRA CHAPMAN: Parents want to be aware that through social media, shared stories in peer groups, or conversations of adult people heard at home, youth and youth can relive the violence and trauma of this violence without adult supervision. Watching the murder of someone else’s human being on television or on social media, parents traumatize young people and don’t allow them to heal things that already scare them. It is essential to pay attention to what young people get and give them more hugs, attention and comfort.
What are the greatest considerations for children?
Dr. SANDRA CHAPMAN: COVID-19 and all racial traumas and strains fear you for your protection and that of your loved ones. Those whose parents played a key role in the pandemic are involved in the adult stage in their lives. Very young people would possibly ask the following: why do they leave home? Will? Due to protests and increased police presence in some communities, especially communities of color, young people would now be more sensitive to the sound of their neighborhood: sirens, helicopters, fireworks and protest songs.
Parents want to be mindful of the visceral experiences children are having and make sure that they don’t have to worry about such things as Who will take care of me? Who will keep me safe? Let them know it’s our job as parents and the adults who love them to keep them as safe as we can.
How do young blacks and young Latinxes you know and paint at a rate?
Dr. SANDRA CHAPMAN: Specific to black children, there is additional fear about their protection in relation to their race. In my circles, I have observed that Latinx’s youth and parents have more conversations about the fight against blackness on the Latinx network. This is very reassuring because we have a tendency to view Latinx network reports as something other than what’s happening on the black network. If we Latinos, Asians, who are not yet black and who are also other people of color, do not link our successes, our demanding situations and our obstacles to what is happening on the black network, we will continue to have very compartmentalized conversations. We will not be able to create broader and more powerful coalitions to combat the racism that affects blacks and all other people of color. This united front is crucial.
“By raising my 3 brown and multiracial children, I communicate a lot array … the achievements of our collective people [and] the way racism and colorism are rooted in our country, so if they confront it themselves or see that they have an effect besides others, they are prepared.
Do you think that today’s young people and young people have a better chance of forming this united front than their parents?
Dr. SANDRA CHAPMAN: It is based on racial socialization that occurs in the home. We know from studies that young people of color are socially racial at a much younger age than their white peers. This racial socialization is a mixture of two things: racial or cultural pride and awareness of racism.
As I raise my 3 brown and multiracial children, I learn a lot about our African and Latino ancestors. For my son who is half white and half Latino, we are communicating about his white European ancestors. But in addition to communicating about the achievements of our collective people, we also communicate how racism and colorism are rooted in our country, so that if they confront it themselves or see that they have an effect on others, they are prepared.
Children, whether Latino or Asian, can be informed that they grow up in houses where this awareness-raising and diversity birthday party, speak on behalf of the black network because they see the dating between race and racism in their own lives with what happens. others. White parents also have a role to play in helping their children see the links between fighting racism and denouncing racism. Young white people who are raised with racial awareness and racial literacy have the fundamental wisdom to perceive racism or have interaction in the same verbal exchange as their black and Aboriginal pairs of color.
Racial socialization is what makes it imaginable to form coalitions opposed to injustice. Like the uprising we saw when Latino immigrants were separated from their children. They spoke black, Asian, multiracial, Aboriginal and white communities, other people of all races.
“We need to couple [contextualizing racism] as part of our country’s history with stories of resilience, cultural pride and change-makers so that we don’t fall into the deficit model of thinking of Black people as only people who experience racial violence.”
Parents have much to do, and in the months of confinement, they were very unlikely to hide their feelings. Sometimes it can be difficult to be reassuring.
Dr. SANDRA CHAPMAN: We have a percentage with our young people that we are also concerned about. We are involved in what’s in the world and we wonder about the things we see. Adults want to join other adults to process everything on our plates. But our task is also to be there for our young people.
What about the conversations parents, teachers, and loving adults can have lately with children?
Dr. SANDRA CHAPMAN: I think there are two vital things: the first is to make sure we contextualize existing racial reports and racism as a component of our country’s violence with violence and racial trauma. But we also want to associate this with stories of resistance, cultural pride and replacement points so as not to fall into the deficit trend of thinking that other black people are only victims of racial violence. Children want to see themselves as resilient and strong and be components of a broader story that’s not just about trauma and violence.
What time do parents start talking about race and racism?
Dr. SANDRA CHAPMAN: Much of the paintings made around the progression of difference can translate into age-appropriate moments and building blocks.
For example, we know that babies can enjoy the images, sounds, and smells of their culture. Building strong relationships with varied adults helps them become more resilient to cultural differences and accept as true adults from all walks of life. This takes time because babies feel safer with their known adults.
Louise Derman-Sparks, the one in several books on anti-prejudice education in preschool, talks about young people who are at a prejudiced stage. They collect a lot of data about the global and what we say. Who has benefits and who doesn’t. About who’s vital and who’s not. They have not yet formulated their opinions, so preschool years are a wonderful time for us, as educators, parents and adults who love young people, to interact in anti-prejudice practices to help them expand positive evidence around their observations on people’s differences.
“Preschool years are a wonderful time for us, as educators, parents, and adults who love children, to interact in anti-prejudice practices to expand positive evidence around their observations on people’s differences.”
Young children need to call and consult everything as they seek to make sense of their lives and global functioning. So give a specific language about how the world works. Intentionally build and strengthen your racial, sexual and emotional literacy. Read books on racial literacy as a basis. Use words like dark brown skin, red-haired user, and wheelchair user so they can describe people’s differences and break the cultural silence that makes it taboo to communicate and call what they see.
Children ages 3 to 5 need to know more about their complex, emerging identity. In addition to presenting their identity, they also expand the organization’s sense of identity. Therefore, telling stories about ancestors and replacing actors in their families and racial, ethnic and cultural teams is helping them expand collective pride.
So if the parents didn’t start talking about race before the youth entered school number one, is it too late to start?
Dr. SANDRA CHAPMAN: When young people succeed between the ages of 6 and 9, they have a basic sense of sex, race, skin color and other social identities. Children of this age can mock themselves by looking to find out who their friends are, who they identify with, and who they are. They are aware of discrimination and stereotypes about their own organization and how others are treated based on their skin color, race, skill, language, religion, gender and class.
Between the ages of 6 and 9, young people demonstrate a profound ethical progression and a sense of justice. This is an ideal time to help them become more informed about social movements, as they are able to act when they see or suffer injustices.
“The more accurate we are in our descriptions of others, the less difficult it is for young people to relate to an organization of others about how they should identify themselves.”
How did you communicate about the race in your home?
Dr. SANDRA CHAPMAN: When our young people developed, we didn’t need to impose on them the sex they were assigned at birth. Therefore, in our conversations about gender differences, we call on other children not to give our children the opportunity to communicate about other people’s fluid gender identity. The same is true for discussions about race. The more accurate we are in our descriptions of others, the less difficult it will be for young people to relate to an organization of others based on how they need to be identified. When we use more accurate language, we also help young people stay informed to ask questions rather than assuming and assigning an identity, identity literacy skills, and interacting in more complex discussions.
How do you see the occasions that affect children’s interracial friendships?
Dr. SANDRA CHAPMAN: One of the conversations that takes a stand in the predominantly white school where I worked, and in so many schools and families across the country, is whether white peers will respond to this existing iteration of racism and racial violence and how. Will this create the replenishment that other people of color and anti-racist whites have always needed and desired? If this existing motion does not motivate white families who raise young whites to think deeply about what is embedded and lacking in their parenting practices, we will not see the kind of original relationships through the racial differences that young people aspire to and deserve.
“Teaching racial awareness and empathy and emotional literacy will allow young people to see race and racism, feel the pain, anger, and anguish that motivates them and others, and be informed to act with their age.”
There is a lot of communication about the importance of supporting your words with action. What concrete measures can parents give their children?
Dr. SANDRA CHAPMAN: Teaching racial awareness and empathy and emotional literacy will allow young people to see race and racism, feel the pain, anger and anguish that motivates them and others, and then be informed to take age-appropriate measures.
We can help expand a child’s empathy for someone else’s delight through conversations from all families with children. For example, when young people have disagreements and say something to their child like: You’ve been your brother’s toy and it’s broken, can you see how frustrated they are? Let’s check with your brother what he wants or offers to fix the toy, “is an opportunity to practice empathy.
It is also imperative to talk brabally with young people about racial disparities in all areas. Engaging young people in discussions that help them perceive what is happening today is as vital for a 5-year-old as it is for a 15-year-old. If you haven’t had cumulative conversations about race, racism, and identity differences, what happens today can be shocking and frightening for a child. But if you’ve had these conversations in a way that suits your age, you can put everything into context, combining what you know about race, what you perceive about racial differences, and what makes you feel.
“Engaging young people in discussions that help them perceive what is happening today is as vital to a 5-year-old as a 15-year-old. If you haven’t had cumulative conversations about race, racism and identity differences, what happens today can be shocking and frightening for a child.”
My 6-year-old daughter-in-law saw her mother cry after her mother saw a social media video about racial violence against other black people, and she asked, “Are you okay? My wife said, ‘No, I’m not well, but I will be. What if I hug you and hug me? “Later, when I wasn’t so upset, my wife made our daughter sit down and said, “I saw something that saddened me. Black people aren’t treated well, and that’s me and a lot of other people around the world. »»
We deliberately help our 6-year-old son, who proudly identifies as black, Filipino, and Latino, expand racial literacy over the past 4 years. More recently, he has heard of police brutality and racism, and speaks comfortably about racial issues. Then she was able to say, “That’s not fair. It’s just not right,” he gave his mother another hug.
Chap Equity offers an extensive collection of resources for parents and families, adding Louise Derman-Sparks’ writings on anti-judgment education for young people and ourselves. Also available: data on social justice and inclusion, Latinx resources, books written through white anti-racists on whiteness, a compilation of articles on racial micro-aggression and much more.
Sandra (Chap) Chapman, ed. D. is a cisgender New Yorker, originally from Afrolatina, born and raised in El Barrio, or Spanish Harlem, New York. Dr. Chap is the founder of Chap Equity, an organization based on the confidence that, through teamwork, we can be more informed about ourselves and others; Discuss and observe the fundamental studies needed to satisfy the desires of a network. Create conversations about Americans where impediment disorders are located and address, and create concrete steps to build more powerful educational communities. Chap and his wife, Imani, proudly raise 3 young people aged 20, 15 and 6 with their two cats, Milo and Samuel.
Marion Hart is a content and social media strata who delights in the creation of communication cars (digital, printed, video) for primary global companies, …
Marion Hart is a content and social media strater who delights in the creation of communication cars (digital, printed, video) for giant global companies, nonprofits, and customer media companies. His paintings have been published in the New York Times, the Huffington Post, Entertainment Weekly, TV Guide and Seventeen, among others. A youth advocate, Marion served on the board of directors of John D.V. Salvador Foundation, which for more than ten years has been helping homeless youth in Manila expand their full potential.