Teaching Children About White Superiority
It is believed that racists raise racists. Therefore, if you consider yourself a good person raising your children on an inclusive morality, you have no reason to worry about them growing up to go with white nationalists in Charlottesville. But it happens .
And after another mass shooting, this time in two New Zealand mosques , parents across the country – and around the world – ask themselves, “What else can we do?” Because not being racist yourself is not enough to stop the spread of white supremacy.
Since social media and the Internet are available to most children by the time they are teenagers (and often much earlier), you cannot simply model good values. White supremacists are spreading their messages through YouTube and social media, and are slowly and discreetly recruiting children through massively multiplayer online games .
It is unrealistic to think that we can be one step ahead of our children with their access to technology. They can bypass our parental controls, our trackers and monitors. They are subject to online algorithms that we have no control over. This is almost a guarantee that by high school they will face hate speech, hate symbols and extremist views both online and in real life.
To combat this, Jeannie Spiegler, director of curriculum and training for the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), says we need to teach them this.
Start early with messages of diversity and inclusion
We’re not going to sit our kids down as teenagers and say, “So listen; there is this terrible thing called “white supremacy” … “without even talking to them about race, ethnicity or diversity. These discussions need to start much earlier.
As early as 3-4 years old, you can use children’s books , TV shows and everyday experiences to talk about personality, race and the importance of including people of all skin colors and backgrounds in our lives.
Then, when your kids are 8 or 9 years old, you can dive deeper into the history of racism, religious bigotry and bullying. Discuss examples of this not only from the distant past but also from current events so that they can learn of its existence and identify it on their own.
Resist and suppress bias and hatred
Perhaps the worst thing we can do, Spiegler says, is to ignore bigotry when it happens. School or community leaders may be inclined to believe that one racist incident – for example, a group of students doing what appears to be a Nazi salute – does not reflect their overall identity .
“How schools deal with it, and how it is tackled, is really an important signal,” Spiegler says. “Sometimes schools want to say that this is an isolated incident. In fact, they do not accept this and do not say: “Where there is smoke, there is fire.”
These incidents provide parents with an opportunity to talk to their children about bias and hatred. But the trick is to do it not so much as a lecture, but as a conversation, to understand how your children interpret such actions.
“It’s also important to hear what they think about it, otherwise it will cut off communication,” Spiegler says. “Listen to what the young people are thinking before we start ranting. It is important not only to convey your values, but also to maintain communication. “
If you find that their views contradict your own, you can question their views without getting them to defend themselves right away. Ask why they think so, where did they learn it and why do they trust the source of their information? Then you can learn more together.
Teach them propaganda
In a world full of “fake news”, deceitful politicians and propaganda, children need to learn to recognize when they are being manipulated. With young children, you can start by talking about the advertisement and the motives behind the ad or commercial: they are trying to sell you something.
Some social science teachers teach propaganda classes, but parents should also do this at home so that children can learn to distinguish between impartial fact and propaganda. ADL has developed a guide called Advocacy, Extremists and Online Recruitment Tactics to help parents start a conversation with their teens. The guide offers basic information on how extremists recruit, as well as questions and topics that parents can use as a starting point for their children. These questions include:
Have you seen any propaganda on the Internet? What do you notice about this?
How do you think propaganda is similar to advertising and how is it different?
What do you know about terrorism and extremism and what else do you want to know?
Why do you think members of extremist groups are turning to people on the Internet to recruit new members?
How do you feel about extremist groups that are trying to recruit young people on the Internet?
“Ultimately, you want them to think about it in part because they are being pulled into it,” Spiegler says.
Teach them hate speech and hate symbols
If you think your child does not hear hate speech or see hate symbols on the Internet while playing and in public, you are wrong. Spiegler says her own daughter often tells her about the swastikas written on students’ notebooks or on the walls of bathrooms. If we do not talk about this and do not explain the history of the appearance of such symbols, we are part of the problem.
“We’re seeing a huge increase in hate symbols in schools, and if we normalize this and don’t see it as a permanent problem in society, then it will just become part of our culture,” Spiegler says. “I’m afraid this is starting to happen.”
ADL has a hate symbols database that provides images, descriptions and meanings of hundreds of hate symbols.
Most children understand what bullying is, but you may need to help them distinguish bullying from hate speech. Common Sense Media’s Caroline Knorr gives a clear explanation to kids in this HuffPost article :
If someone is trying to offend someone, or if they know they are hurting someone and they do it repeatedly, that is cyberbullying. When someone expresses vicious views about the group or its attributes, it is hate speech.
Knorr offers parents and kids practical advice on how to tackle online hate speech, such as reporting it, blocking certain users, and summoning them when they feel comfortable.
Don’t let them isolate
Children crave a sense of acceptance. They need a sense of belonging in order to feel part of the group. Ask yourself: is my child an outcast? Does he feel left out in school? Does she have friends?
If the answer is no, they are vulnerable to extremist groups that can fill this void. Help them identify places where they can strengthen bonds, be it a club, event, sport, or church group.
“Young people who feel marginalized and deprived of a sense of belonging to their peers is a very important thing that we all need to think about,” says Spiegler. “We always say that we need to create inclusive, welcoming, diverse schools and communities so that people do not feel isolated and isolated. Because then they are more receptive because they are looking for a sense of belonging, and these (extremist) groups suggest that. “
Talk about current events
If you are not talking to your children about current events, chances are they are receiving information elsewhere. It is important to use age-appropriate current events to start a dialogue with your children about hate and bias.
Common Sense Media has a guide to the best news sources for kids that parents can use as a starting point for discussing news, how it is reported, and how to become a critical consumer of media.