We live in a white supremacist system, and if white parents cannot help their children make sense of this environment self-reflexively, they will grow up to perpetuate this system rather than dismantle it. Today, we are joined by Dr. Jennifer Harvey to discuss the question of raising children who will grow up to have anti-racist values.
Dr. Harvey is a writer, teacher, and activist who has been long engaged in work for racial justice and white anti-racism. Her books include the New York Times bestseller Raising White Kids and Dear White Christians. Our conversation begins with Dr. Harvey talking about how she got involved in the work of racial justice. She talks about how she realized that white people can show active commitment in solidarity across racial lines while she was engaged in forms of anti-racist activism in her 20’s. From there she talks about her work with the church and how it sparked the process of writing her books.
We then take a deep dive into the subject of the legacy of white racism and how to break it by the way we raise our kids. We get into the idea that as white people we have inherited internalized taboos around talking about race and these stand in the way of healthy parenting. Dr. Harvey shares her thoughts on how to help children think in more sophisticated ways about race. As parents, it is important to not shield our kids from the realities of injustice and we explore different ways of keeping an open dialog at home from the time they are very young.
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Key Points From This Episode:
Race and theology and how Jennifer got interested in the work she does today.
What Jennifer learned in her early activism with the slim resources available for confronting racism.
Reconciliation versus reparations and the thinking behind Dear White Christians.
Committing to raising white kids who are not racist and why Jennifer wrote Raising White Kids.
How children interpret the world racially and how to help them become self-reflexive about this.
Perspectives on what ages kids should be to hear explicit conversations about race and violence.
The work adults need to do to get to the point where conversations about race with their kids are easy.
Modeling by showing vulnerability and learning alongside your children in an ongoing conversation.
Resources to help adults raise children with anti-racist values.
Common ways adults avoid talking about race with their kids.
How to deal with children speaking about race in ways that sound racist but might not be.
Early conversations about race as forms of making your kids do things before they understand why.
Positive steps forward and some of the main things that keep Jennifer motivated.
How listeners can get involved and help to build a more just system.
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Tweetables:
“It was helpful for me to realize in my 20s that I was not wallowing in white guilt because I was a bad person but because I have never seen a white person do something different. This is a legacy that we have inherited.” — @drjenharvey
“My ten-year-old only grows able and ready to talk in increasingly sophisticated ways about race and racism if from the very beginning of their life I am chattering about difference.” — @drjenharvey
“When we say that we value equality and thus we don’t notice difference we are first creating incredible cognitive dissonance in our children because they do see difference.” — @drjenharvey
“People’s lives depend on white parents doing differently with this next generation.” — @drjenharvey
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Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Dr. Jennifer Harvey: https://jenniferharvey.org/
Dr. Jennifer Harvey on Twitter: https://twitter.com/drjenharvey?lang=en
Raising White Kids: https://www.amazon.com/Raising-White-Kids-Bringing-Children/dp/1501856421
Dear White Christians: https://www.amazon.com/Dear-White-Christians-Reconciliation-Christianity/dp/0802872077
Race Conscious: http://www.raceconscious.org/
Embrace Race: https://www.embracerace.org/
Integrated Schools: https://integratedschools.org/
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