Monday, September 28, 2009

Is Your Baby Racist?

Kids as young as 6 months judge others based on skin color. What's a parent to do? Front page of Newsweek bore this heading pictured alongside an African American baby. So what, now babies are racist too? The article discussed a study on whether or not children's stories with multicultural storylines have a beneficial effect on children's racial attitudes. The children were asked how many white people are mean, and the primary answer checked was "almost none". When they were asked how many black people are mean, the primary answers checked were "some" and "a lot". This is remarkably shocking because children are born into this mentality whether or not parents realize it. The real problem at hand is that parents reassure their children over and over again that all people are equal, but they fail to talk about the actual issue. Children are giving these responses because their parents don't talk to them openly about racial issues. You can be told time and time again that all people are equal, but until you get down to the nitty gritty truth about the discrimination of certain skin colors, the children will never really learn. This is a scary reality but it goes to show how these mindsets are formed among out youths today.

Newsweek
September 14, 2009

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