Aren't All Children Worth the Same?

I wish the answer was yes.

I had a conversation recently with a friend about why the police always took so long to respond to calls at our school... like attempted kidnapping. I was so angry and so confused why none of the people around me were angry - they all seemed resigned to it. The custodian explained to me. She said, "Oh, honey, they don't care about us? We all just n-----s to them." I think the acceptance was harder for me than the actual problem of the slow response time. The fact that these kids and their families were so used to being treated like this that they didn't even think to question it any more.. .that's the problem.

I wrote the post below two years ago but nothing's changed. I wish it would.

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

WHEN are We Going to Stop...

...teaching kids who aren't white that they are worth less than white kids?

Minorities not allowed in a Philadelphia club's pool

Black dolls priced less than white dolls (pretty good object lesson in not being worth as much)

Black children (and adults) who go missing are underreported while white kids often get 24/7 news coverage

If you think this isn't affecting children, or that I'm a crazy liberal who's making too much of it, I suggest you work with children of color for a year and then report back. In the eight years I taught at the school in the inner city, I heard countless - and I actually mean countless - instances of kids complimenting each other on light skin, lamenting dark skin and kinky hair, talking about "good hair," talking about wishing they were white, commenting on how much prettier white people are, how much more money they have, how it's better to be white, how the police would treat them differently if they were white, how the school would be better if they were white kids...

I wish they were wrong.

Two years ago: WHEN Are We Going to Stop
Something Good in the District

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