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ISSUES: Racial & Ethnic Discrimination
Chapter 2: Tackling racism
Why we should talk to children about race
An article from
The Conversation
.
By AmandaWilliams, Lecturer in Psychology of Education, University of Bristol
I
t’s a situation that many parents
dread. Encountering a black man in
the street for the first time, a white
child might loudly ask something like:
“Mummy, why does that man have dirty
skin?” After cringing, shushing, or offering
a distraction, parents may wonder where
this kind of question has come from, how
to deal with the situation or indeed avoid
it in the future.
From a surprisingly early age, children
can distinguish between faces from
different racial groups. By the time they
are three months old, experiments
have shown that white, black and Asian
infants tend to look longer at faces from
their own racial group or familiar racial
groups compared to faces from other,
less familiar racial groups. By three to four
years old, children can consistently and
accurately identify others by race. The
ability to differentiate between people
on the basis of race improves with age,
with teenagers and adults automatically
and effortlessly categorising others on
the basis of skin colour.
Choosing to be colour blind
In many societies there is a widespread
belief that individuals should receive the
same treatment regardless of their race,
ethnicity, gender and ability. Partly in
an attempt to appear egalitarian, many
adults adopt a ‘colour blind’ approach to
race – avoiding mentioning race under
the guise that if one doesn’t ‘see’ race,
then one cannot be considered racist.
For example, in studies using a photo
identification game, white participants
asked to identify a particular face from
an array of faces are less likely to use race
to describe the faces, particularly when
paired in the task with a black partner.
The norms enforced by this behaviour
have now become so entrenched that
adults tend to find situations that force
them to talk about race extremely
uncomfortable and anxiety-provoking,
leading to a complete avoidance of the
topic in social interactions.
Even when interacting with their young
children, parents avoid race. In one study
that observed the way parents read a
storybook created to raise issues about
race relations and racial prejudice with
their four- to five-year-olds, the majority
of parents tended not to mention race,
despite it being the theme of the book.
But ignoring race does not make it go
away. Like adults and older children,
young children are aware of race even if
no one seems to be talking about it. This
may lead young children to ask questions
about racial differences, which are
sometimes embarrassing and untimely,
in order to gain a better understanding
of the world around them.
Only after having acquired a better
understanding of social norms regarding
race, at around ten years old, do children
alsobegintoshowcolourblindbehaviour
and avoid using race to identify the
target in a photo identification task. Like
adults, older children avoid mentioning
race even at the expense of howwell they
might perform in the task at hand.
But taking a colourblind approach to race
is not the best way to promote equality
and reduce racial prejudice. Studies with
white people who avoid talking about
race show less friendly behaviour when
playing a photo identification task with
a black partner compared to a white
partner. Like adults, nine- to 12-year-olds
also tend to find situations where they
have to talk about race uncomfortable,
nerve-wracking and unpleasant.
Anewapproach
But if colour blindness –and the tendency
to avoid talking about race – impacts on
relationships between diverse people,
what approach shouldwe take inorder to
resolve racial inequalities? The answer lies
in embracing and celebrating our racial
differences instead of minimising or even
altogether ignoring them.
Fully recognising the multiculturalism
in our society appears to be a better
strategy. For example, in one study
children who were read a story that
placed value in racial diversity were
found to be more likely to identify acts of
racial discrimination andmore likely to sit
next to racially diverse peers in the school
lunchroom.Inanotherstudy,whiteadults
who adopted a multicultural approach
(as opposed to a colourblind approach)
showed less prejudiced behaviour when
conversing with an Asian partner about
racism and diversity.
Our concerns about discussing race can
be reduced by placing more value in
racial diversity, resulting in less stressful
and more successful interactions with
people from racial groups different from
our own. As a caveat, most of the research
mentioned in this article has focused
primarily on the reactions of white
participants. So there is more work to
do researching attitudes and behaviour
in diverse contexts with individuals
who identify as racial minority group
members.
For children, curiosity about their
surroundings and the people they
meet comes naturally. Rather than
brushing aside children’s questions
about race in an attempt to avoid social
embarrassment, we ought to embrace
and celebrate the differences that make
us unique, remarkable, and that colour
the world we live in.
Talking with children about race
from an early age may not only derail
embarrassing questions, but may, more
importantly, serve to increase children’s
comfort when interacting with people
from different racial and ethnic groups
– and increase the comfort of those they
are interacting with too.
Given that we live in a society that
is
becoming
increasingly
diverse,
children will be expected to interact
with individuals from many racial and
ethnic backgrounds. Children need to
be prepared for this future – one way to
do this is to encourage them to see this
diversity as a positive feature of their
worlds. It’s time to talk about race.
15 August 2016
Ö
The above information is reprinted
with kind permission from
The
Conversation
. Please visit www.
theconversation.com for further
information.
©2010-2017
The Conversation Trust (UK)
