The curriculum I created for my children: Combating “Why is the bad guy brown?”

by guest blogger Martha Haakmat My teenage daughters now tease me about the number of times the words “diversity” and “race” came up at our dinner table as they grew up in our family. My middle daughter does an imitation…

"But are we Arab?"; Creating meaning of my children's identities, Part Two

“But are we Arab?”; Creating meaning of my children’s identities, Part Two

by Sachi Feris To read Part One of this post, click here. When I was little, I always claimed, somewhat proudly, that I was “a quarter Lebanese” and that “my dad was born in Cuba” perhaps because it made me different….

“I want to be Mexican like Dora!”; Creating meaning of my children’s identities, Part One

“I want to be Mexican like Dora!”; Creating meaning of my children’s identities, Part One

by Sachi Feris Like many children, my daughter’s first introduction to cartoon characters has been through marketing. She first met Dora, for example, on a band aid. A year ago, during a one-month stay in San Cristobal, Chiapas, Mexico, we…

What I tell my son about the sexist media

by guest blogger Janet Alperstein After attending “Fiddler on the Roof” my eight-year-old Jewish Day School-educated son, made it his business to memorize the verse about the sons in “Tradition:” “At three I started Hebrew school, at ten I learned…

My Family Builders: Talking race, gender and family structures

My Family Builders: Talking race, gender and family structures

by guest blogger Shannon Cofrin Gaggero Note: This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are those of the author. I’m always on the hunt for children’s books and toys that are diverse and feature individuals and families beyond the typical “white-and-heterosexual-as-norm” narrative. We…

De-segregation is not enough: Why building strong, integrated schools matters

De-segregation is not enough: Why building strong, integrated schools matters

by Sahba Rohani At Community Roots Charter School in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, where I work as the director of community development, we have ten years of experience running a purposefully integrated school. That’s been possible for a few reasons. Home…

Race conscious talk as a daily practice: A day with my 11-month old

Race conscious talk as a daily practice: A day with my 11-month old

by Sachi Feris This is an account of the daily opportunities I have to be race conscious versus “color blind” with my children. My 11-month-old baby loves ducks. So when he woke up fussy from a two-hour morning nap (on…

#FreedomNow with my four-year-old niece

#FreedomNow with my four-year-old niece

by Danielle Morgan Feris To introduce myself: Sachi Feris of Raising Race Conscious Children is my sister. I love her children, my four-year-old niece and ten-month-old nephew, more than anything. I am grateful that I get to help raise my niece…

Telling my White four-year-old about Alton Sterling and Philando Castile

Telling my White four-year-old about Alton Sterling and Philando Castile

by Sachi Feris The past 24-hours have been wrought with power struggles between me and my four-year-old, leading to emotions running high for both of us. In response to this, we have been brainstorming strategies for dealing with emotions of…

My daughter’s rainbow dress: “In support of all queer and gay people”

My daughter’s rainbow dress: “In support of all queer and gay people”

by Sachi Feris My daughter was two-and-a-half in the fall of 2014 when Michael Brown and Eric Garner and Black Lives Matter were all over the news. During those months, I wrote a post entitled, “How I would talk to…