Lovely. I especially vibed with this from my own life -
"I grew up in the Caribbean, and then lived in England, and practically every book that was available had white protagonists in the key roles. I had no expectation that anybody in any of the books that I read as a child and even many of the books I read as an adult were going to reflect me or my experience. That is just not how I have experienced the world."
Thanks Nishant. Really pleased with where the chat went. We could do one soon! You can tell me things you’ve noticed about fatherhood whilst people watching around the world ...
I just wanted to say that the push in many parts of the USA to ban the teaching of Critical Race Theory in schools pushes the task of talking about racial inequality completely onto parents. I'm concerned that a lot of parents will either not do the work of equipping themselves to talk to their kids about it or find it so uncomfortable to confront their white privilege that they won't talk about it at all. I say this because I have had arguments with other dads about the very existence of white privilege, and I feel recognizing that there's an inherent bias in a country founded by rich white guys who were primarily concerned with the further enrichment of said rich white guys (to the detriment of anyone who wasn't a rich white guy) is fundamental to the discussion.
Absolutely. Also, I think for Americans, the idea that everyone doesn't have the same opportunities flies in the face of the simple "hard work is all it takes to succeed" narrative that we are given as justification for why some people get ahead and others don't. To accept that some people start out in a better position and with different rules to the game would diminish the sense of accomplishment and upset the balance for the privileged.
My kiddo has a copy of "Anti-Racist Baby". I love it and its one of their favorite books. I hope more kids will grow up to be anti-racist adults. <3
Lovely. I especially vibed with this from my own life -
"I grew up in the Caribbean, and then lived in England, and practically every book that was available had white protagonists in the key roles. I had no expectation that anybody in any of the books that I read as a child and even many of the books I read as an adult were going to reflect me or my experience. That is just not how I have experienced the world."
Thanks Nishant. Really pleased with where the chat went. We could do one soon! You can tell me things you’ve noticed about fatherhood whilst people watching around the world ...
Absolutely! 😊
I just wanted to say that the push in many parts of the USA to ban the teaching of Critical Race Theory in schools pushes the task of talking about racial inequality completely onto parents. I'm concerned that a lot of parents will either not do the work of equipping themselves to talk to their kids about it or find it so uncomfortable to confront their white privilege that they won't talk about it at all. I say this because I have had arguments with other dads about the very existence of white privilege, and I feel recognizing that there's an inherent bias in a country founded by rich white guys who were primarily concerned with the further enrichment of said rich white guys (to the detriment of anyone who wasn't a rich white guy) is fundamental to the discussion.
I'm reminded of the powerful thought "for those accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression."
Absolutely. Also, I think for Americans, the idea that everyone doesn't have the same opportunities flies in the face of the simple "hard work is all it takes to succeed" narrative that we are given as justification for why some people get ahead and others don't. To accept that some people start out in a better position and with different rules to the game would diminish the sense of accomplishment and upset the balance for the privileged.