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Developing negative biases is something that happens slowly over time through the messages we absorb from the media, comments over the dinner table, omissions from our school lessons, and all the subtle nuances of people saying things without saying anything at all. Correcting this negative bias starts with awareness that they exist and continues with purposeful choices in what we choose to engage with, ingest, allow our children to absorb. Some of us may have to overcorrect once we realize how negative our biases are. Others of us may simply need to be intentional about correcting myths and filling in the omissions we learned as children. Purposeful Parenting starts with making mindful choices about what we learn and what we put in front of our children.
We all have biases, racial and otherwise. Even young children develop negative biases long before they start to school - and these biases can have a profoundly negative impact on their interactions with other and their own self image.
In this profound TED talk, Jennifer L. Eberhardt speaks about the impact racial bias has had in her own family. In response, our own Jessica Meuller provides us with resources to help us with this process.
Resources to Inform Your Anti-Racist Journey
There’s a plethora of options and resources to further your anti-racist journey--from books, to movies and documentaries, podcasts and on--that sometimes it can be hard to sort through what’s available. Don’t be intimidated or discouraged.
As much as we’d like to know everything we didn’t know now, to rightly see the injustice and inequity in our world, and be equipped to approach life in a way that brings justice, equity, and peace to our culture--these things take time. There’s no one stop resource or pill to take to get us to be the anti-racists we want to be. There is no quick fix.
There will always be more we can know, deeper we can dive into topics, areas we’ll be unraveling and peeling back layers of our understanding of ourselves and our world. Being anti-racist is a journey.
What to do? Where are you at now in your anti-racist journey? What interests you? Where do you notice the gaps in your own anti-racist education? What topics are important to you personally? Pick a topic and start there.
Maybe it’s from a historical context…
Watch the documentary Race the Power of an Illusion or watch Selma.
Listen to NYT’s 1619 podcast
Read Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi (or the youth version Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds)
Read Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent by Isabel Wilkerson or The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein
Or from a faith perspective…
Listen to Truth’s Table podcast, midwives of culture for grace and truth.
Read The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism by Jemar Tibsy or Be the Bridge: Pursuing God's Heart for Racial Reconciliation by Latasha Morrison
Or a look at the justice system...
Watch the documentary 13th by Ava DuVernay or Just Mercy
Read The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander, Rethinking Incarceration: Advocating for Justice That Restores by Dominique DuBois Gilliard, or Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson
Maybe you don’t know where to begin…
Read So You Want to Talk About Race? by Ijeoma Oluo
Attend a Moms Against Racism webinar, join the MAR book club, participate in one of kid/teen activities, or dig into the many resources here at Moms Against Racism!
Evaluating Resources for Yourself:
Who is telling this story or history?
Who does this narrative benefit? Are people of color a tool for white people to better themselves? Do POC have their own agency? Are they telling their own story?
What perspectives and/or experiences are missing--culturally and historically?
If watching a biopic, were things represented accurately? What changes were made and why?
If looking at a book or documentary, what education or training does this person have? Is this their field of study? Are they respected among their peers, even if they disagree?
Is this book well-researched? Can you easily find primary sources and works cited? For example, Ibram X. Kendi’s Stamped has 45 pages of reference notes. If a source is not well-documented or researched, there is a lower level of trust. How do we know if the author’s claims are truthful if they are not willing to share their research sources? We should be able to find the original source and see how the author came to their position.
These things take time. They take processing and digesting. Don’t feel like you have to read or listen to everything right now--that will lead to burnout and overwhelm. Find a place you can discuss, share, and process what you’re learning--the MAR Facebook group is a great place to start.
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