Anti-Racism Assembly Today?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone else’s Kindergarten kid freaked out by an anti-racism assembly today? My kid needed to sleep with a light on and the door open tonight. Anyone know what specifically was talked about? My kid couldn’t relay much except that she was scared.

The assembly was a well known workshop for the “Anti-racist Fight Club.” It’s been around a while. They have a website, ok?

https://doyinrichards.com/arfc-kids/

And, unsurprisingly, you can't access the content on the website. Because that's what you pay the guy to provide. So the website provides no insight.

The man who created this workshop has a parenting column called Care and Feeding on Slate. His parenting advice is terrible. I wouldn't trust his anti-racism workshop either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child is in an older grade so did not attend. But I just clicked on the fist book link in the newsletter and it is pretty horrifying, with violent language and asking children to identify racist family members. There are better ways to teach these lessons.

I also think it is a mistake to encourage kids to think of their “colorblind” family members as racist. These people may be misguided in how to think about race, based on current research, but I do not think it is fair encourage kids to label these people as racist. That is a very strong word.

As just a personal example when my kids talk about race with older family members they do so in a thoughtful way that impresses their elders and might even change minds and hearts to some degree. If they were to approach these same relatives with this aggressive and combative language it would be perceived much differently.

sorry that calling racists "racists" might make the racists uncomfortable at christmas dinner

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child is in an older grade so did not attend. But I just clicked on the fist book link in the newsletter and it is pretty horrifying, with violent language and asking children to identify racist family members. There are better ways to teach these lessons.

I also think it is a mistake to encourage kids to think of their “colorblind” family members as racist. These people may be misguided in how to think about race, based on current research, but I do not think it is fair encourage kids to label these people as racist. That is a very strong word.

As just a personal example when my kids talk about race with older family members they do so in a thoughtful way that impresses their elders and might even change minds and hearts to some degree. If they were to approach these same relatives with this aggressive and combative language it would be perceived much differently.

sorry that calling racists "racists" might make the racists uncomfortable at christmas dinner

will it make them change, though? Is the point to just dunk on people? Or...?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child is in an older grade so did not attend. But I just clicked on the fist book link in the newsletter and it is pretty horrifying, with violent language and asking children to identify racist family members. There are better ways to teach these lessons.

I also think it is a mistake to encourage kids to think of their “colorblind” family members as racist. These people may be misguided in how to think about race, based on current research, but I do not think it is fair encourage kids to label these people as racist. That is a very strong word.

As just a personal example when my kids talk about race with older family members they do so in a thoughtful way that impresses their elders and might even change minds and hearts to some degree. If they were to approach these same relatives with this aggressive and combative language it would be perceived much differently.

sorry that calling racists "racists" might make the racists uncomfortable at christmas dinner

will it make them change, though? Is the point to just dunk on people? Or...?

If my kids were calling me racist, I think I’d engage in why they are saying it. Maybe it’s them being hyperbolic or extreme, but it’s a great starting point for a family conversation on what racism looks like in today’s world

[Anonymous]

so uh for those of you who are worried about your six year olds detecting that ol' red hat drunky auntie susan is a racist, and then calling her out on it...

if your drunk babbling aunt is SO RACIST that a six year can see it, why aren't you calling her out yourself?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child is in an older grade so did not attend. But I just clicked on the fist book link in the newsletter and it is pretty horrifying, with violent language and asking children to identify racist family members. There are better ways to teach these lessons.

I also think it is a mistake to encourage kids to think of their “colorblind” family members as racist. These people may be misguided in how to think about race, based on current research, but I do not think it is fair encourage kids to label these people as racist. That is a very strong word.

As just a personal example when my kids talk about race with older family members they do so in a thoughtful way that impresses their elders and might even change minds and hearts to some degree. If they were to approach these same relatives with this aggressive and combative language it would be perceived much differently.

sorry that calling racists "racists" might make the racists uncomfortable at christmas dinner

will it make them change, though? Is the point to just dunk on people? Or...?

Should you just ignore it when they say racist things, then?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child is in an older grade so did not attend. But I just clicked on the fist book link in the newsletter and it is pretty horrifying, with violent language and asking children to identify racist family members. There are better ways to teach these lessons.

I also think it is a mistake to encourage kids to think of their “colorblind” family members as racist. These people may be misguided in how to think about race, based on current research, but I do not think it is fair encourage kids to label these people as racist. That is a very strong word.

As just a personal example when my kids talk about race with older family members they do so in a thoughtful way that impresses their elders and might even change minds and hearts to some degree. If they were to approach these same relatives with this aggressive and combative language it would be perceived much differently.

sorry that calling racists "racists" might make the racists uncomfortable at christmas dinner

will it make them change, though? Is the point to just dunk on people? Or...?

Should you just ignore it when they say racist things, then?

No. I'm not the PP who shared this story, but as you can see, that posters' kids approached the scenario by discussing things with their older relatives, rather than just calling them racists. They discussed it in a different manner, that the PP thought the older relatives were more receptive to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child is in an older grade so did not attend. But I just clicked on the fist book link in the newsletter and it is pretty horrifying, with violent language and asking children to identify racist family members. There are better ways to teach these lessons.

I also think it is a mistake to encourage kids to think of their “colorblind” family members as racist. These people may be misguided in how to think about race, based on current research, but I do not think it is fair encourage kids to label these people as racist. That is a very strong word.

As just a personal example when my kids talk about race with older family members they do so in a thoughtful way that impresses their elders and might even change minds and hearts to some degree. If they were to approach these same relatives with this aggressive and combative language it would be perceived much differently.

sorry that calling racists "racists" might make the racists uncomfortable at christmas dinner

will it make them change, though? Is the point to just dunk on people? Or...?

If my kids were calling me racist, I think I’d engage in why they are saying it. Maybe it’s them being hyperbolic or extreme, but it’s a great starting point for a family conversation on what racism looks like in today’s world

It's so weird that people are insistent that the ONLY WAY to have a dialogue with people who are saying racist stuff is to say "YER RACIST!" Sure, that's one way, but there are others that might lead to actual dialogue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child is in an older grade so did not attend. But I just clicked on the fist book link in the newsletter and it is pretty horrifying, with violent language and asking children to identify racist family members. There are better ways to teach these lessons.

I also think it is a mistake to encourage kids to think of their “colorblind” family members as racist. These people may be misguided in how to think about race, based on current research, but I do not think it is fair encourage kids to label these people as racist. That is a very strong word.

As just a personal example when my kids talk about race with older family members they do so in a thoughtful way that impresses their elders and might even change minds and hearts to some degree. If they were to approach these same relatives with this aggressive and combative language it would be perceived much differently.

sorry that calling racists "racists" might make the racists uncomfortable at christmas dinner

will it make them change, though? Is the point to just dunk on people? Or...?

If my kids were calling me racist, I think I’d engage in why they are saying it. Maybe it’s them being hyperbolic or extreme, but it’s a great starting point for a family conversation on what racism looks like in today’s world

It's so weird that people are insistent that the ONLY WAY to have a dialogue with people who are saying racist stuff is to say "YER RACIST!" Sure, that's one way, but there are others that might lead to actual dialogue.

Except, these conversations clearly haven’t happened in the past. I know my parents never had them with me and I wish they had. We can’t just keep putting our heads down and moving forward or we’re just repeating the cycle

[Anonymous]

Let’s separate the question of should we talk about racism from the question of the best way to talk about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child is in an older grade so did not attend. But I just clicked on the fist book link in the newsletter and it is pretty horrifying, with violent language and asking children to identify racist family members. There are better ways to teach these lessons.

I also think it is a mistake to encourage kids to think of their “colorblind” family members as racist. These people may be misguided in how to think about race, based on current research, but I do not think it is fair encourage kids to label these people as racist. That is a very strong word.

As just a personal example when my kids talk about race with older family members they do so in a thoughtful way that impresses their elders and might even change minds and hearts to some degree. If they were to approach these same relatives with this aggressive and combative language it would be perceived much differently.

sorry that calling racists "racists" might make the racists uncomfortable at christmas dinner

will it make them change, though? Is the point to just dunk on people? Or...?

If my kids were calling me racist, I think I’d engage in why they are saying it. Maybe it’s them being hyperbolic or extreme, but it’s a great starting point for a family conversation on what racism looks like in today’s world

It's so weird that people are insistent that the ONLY WAY to have a dialogue with people who are saying racist stuff is to say "YER RACIST!" Sure, that's one way, but there are others that might lead to actual dialogue.

Except, these conversations clearly haven’t happened in the past. I know my parents never had them with me and I wish they had. We can’t just keep putting our heads down and moving forward or we’re just repeating the cycle

Yes, conversations about racism should be had, and they weren't. No one is arguing with you about whether or not people should discuss racism AT ALL. It's the method used in specific cases. Look, my older relatives aren't going to change their minds one bit if I sit them down and say, "so, Jan, you know you are very racist, right?" But I can approach it differently (e.g., I tend to focus on a specific statement or behavior as racist versus saying that the person is racist); in this way we might have some thought process happen. It certainly tends to be more civil. I think this is probably something that varies depending on the specific relationship.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let’s separate the question of should we talk about racism from the question of the best way to talk about it.

yes, precisely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let’s separate the question of should we talk about racism from the question of the best way to talk about it.

Yes! Finally -a voice of reason. We should absolutely talk about racism and how we can combat it - but Doyin Richards - and his combative approach - is not the man Janney should hire to lead our children in this very important process. Who found him anyway? I find it hard to believe he was vetted properly.

[Anonymous]

I know you’re not going to like this point, but it’s the epitome of privilege to think that you should be able to set the terms for discussions of racism. This is an uncomfortable topic of conversation and it sounds like the principal did a solid amount of frontloading prior to the session.

[Anonymous]

Imagine how the (few) black kids in the room must have felt to sit there while some dude explained to everyone that white people think black people are not intelligent... What a stupid way to approach young impressionable minds...