Anonymous wrote:We are multi-racial family and my 7yo half-Asian DS is still very innocent and we all watch news together. I have been subject to racist comments from both black and white people so I really don't know what to say to my kids specifically on race. I do teach them to be honest, work hard and be kind to everyone and good and bad people come in all colors and shapes. I personally abhor violence and I just can't stand behind how Minneapolis can loot and burn their own grocery stores and put so many families at risk.
I’m not sure if you’re the poster above who said you don’t talk about race or if you’re a different poster. I think you can start from a place of explaining what racism is and sharing your personal experience. I will say that my personal experience has both made me part of a culture that tacitly accepts racism. My family is Asian and i grew up in a family where you weren’t supposed to talk about racism because my parents wanted us to fit in with the white kids and be successful. I will also say that there were very racist comments made about anyone who was not Asian in my house, but it was done in my native language so I didn’t realize how nasty and awful the English translation was until I was much older. It’s important that if you’ve had racist comments directed towards yourself, you don’t use that as an excuse to be racist toward others (not saying you are, but that is often the excuse used in my specific Asian culture).
Some people will say that watching the news with a kid is a bad idea, but I think it’s a good one. Shielding kids from reality is unfair both to them and to the children that face racism every single day. I also recommend the 6/2 episode of Lester Holt’s NBC News Kids Edition. It’s on YouTube. He’s been doing a great job of explaining coronavirus to kids and is doing a good job talking about racism and the protests, too.