I am my mother's daughter: Assumptions about my multi-racial family

I am my mother’s daughter: Assumptions about my multi-racial family

by Lori Taliaferro Riddick I have been told many, many times that my mom and I do not resemble each other. My mom has straight blonde hair, green eyes, and White skin while I have café au lait colored skin,…

Chocolate, slave labor, my four-year-old, and our local supermarket

Chocolate, slave labor, my four-year-old, and our local supermarket

by Sachi Feris Last Halloween, a friend posted this link on Facebook about child slave labor in the cocoa industry (in West Africa). As a chocolate-obsessed person, I was embarrassed that this injustice was not on my radar. Since then,…

SURJ MAY DAY ACTION WITH CHILDREN TOOLKIT

SURJ MAY DAY ACTION WITH CHILDREN TOOLKIT

Raising Race Conscious Children is honored to have partnered with Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) to create this May Day Action with Children Toolkit. Below, you will find book suggestions and talking points/questions you can ask as you engage your children…

Anti-Asian racism and young children

Anti-Asian racism and young children

by Sachi Feris A decade ago, I was in a car with my husband and two Argentine friends in downtown Manhattan. We slowed down to stop at a red light and saw two pedestrians waiting to cross the street, both…

Conversations with my four-year-old about racism

Conversations with my four-year-old about racism

by guest blogger Rhea St. Julien I’ve been with my husband, who is Black, for 15 years, but I have been White all my life. I still get things wrong, I still miss racist stuff, and I still don’t always…

“One Hundred Years of Lynching:” Coming to Terms With America’s Violent Past

“One Hundred Years of Lynching:” Coming to Terms With America’s Violent Past

by guest blogger Pedro A. Noguera, Ph. D When I moved back to NY in 2000, one of the first things I did with my children was to take them to visit the Museum of Natural History. I had always enjoyed…

The Third Little Pig: A lesson on wealth redistribution

The Third Little Pig: A lesson on wealth redistribution

by Sachi Feris While I was in Argentina recently, I found a pop-up version of “The Three Little Pigs” in Spanish, which I purchased and quickly became one of my son’s favorite books. After about 100 readings, literally, it occurred…

How (and why) I introduced gender identity to my 3-year-old son

by guest blogger Shannon Cofrin Gaggero My husband and I are striving to raise our children outside the confines of traditional gender norms. We are not raising our kids without gender influences altogether, but we are actively trying to create space…

Why I want to read books with protagonists of color to my White son

Why I want to read books with protagonists of color to my White son

by guest blogger Suzanne Feinspan I loved reading as a kid. Weekly trips to the library and monthly ones to the bookstore were some of the highlights of my childhood.  I still have a strong sentimental attachment to many of…

Leo Lionni's "A Color of his Own": Cross-race versus same-race spaces

Leo Lionni’s “A Color of his Own”: Cross-race versus same-race spaces

by Sachi Feris As a long-time reader of Leo Lionni, it surprised me that Google searches of Lionni’s books did not yield lessons plans explicitly discussing race, since many of his books speak to themes of racial identity and the…