"An education capable of saving humanity is no small undertaking: it involves the spiritual development of man, the enhancement of his value as an individual, and the preparation of young people to understand the times in which they live."
-Maria Montessori, Education and Peace
As parents and caregivers, we naturally feel the need to protect our children. But that doesn't mean we should avoid difficult topics like racism, inequality, and violence. In fact, avoiding these issues may communicate indifference, when as Christians we are called to work for justice, the common good, and peace in our world. With older children we can talk about and demonstrate our commitment to love one another as Christ has loved us, and with younger children we can model our language and environment after the all-encompassing love of God, the Father of all.
Modeling Love, Peace, and Diversity
Children up to age six have what Maria Montessori called "the absorbent mind." We don't have to teach children language, for example; they simply pick it up. The same is true for how we talk about things, and how our home environment itself speaks.
It is therefore important to use positive language. Rather than say "don't hit your sister," we may say "we use our bodies for love"; instead of "don't stand on the chair," we may say "chairs are for sitting." Framing our language positively communicates to children that we are people of love and purpose. Indirectly, positive language orients children towards actively pursuing peace and justice--what's appropriate--rather than pursuing what we want in competition with rules and other people's wants.
Similarly, the home environment manifests what we value and is the child's first introduction to the world. What does it say if all our books feature white people, or if our pictures of Jesus depict him as Caucasian? We often curate what shows and video games our children watch and play, but do we justify our "grown up" movies and video games that accept as a given or even glorify violence and sexism? What does that say about what's okay for adults, for humans?
To put it positively: Do we have books and toys that are diverse in terms of race, occupations, gender, and culture? (Note that they don't need to be about those things!) Do we watch shows and play games in which people are treated with respect and love? Does our religious art show the diversity of God's people and of Marian apparitions, and a non-European looking Jesus? Do we speak charitably about others we disagree with? Do we volunteer, peacefully protest, or help our neighbors?
Talking about justice and the history of anti-black racism
Around the age of 6, children begin forming their moral compass. The 6-9 year-old child is developing her sense of right and wrong, which expands from local fairness to global justice as the child continues to age and develop. It is important, therefore, to help older children by providing context and nomenclature for understanding the history of racial violence and injustice in America and in the world.
The goal is to encourage their natural inclination towards justice and hope by reinforcing it with Christian values and knowledge of the social justice movement while acknowledging the historic and systemic injustice still embedded in our society. From slavery to Jim Crow to the New Jim Crow of today, black people have been treated violently and unfairly. While we continue to work for justice, we must be honest that our justice system itself from the beginning has been unfair towards minorities, especially black people. Even the Church and religion generally has been a means of violence and oppression.
We should also be honest with our children that we don't have the answers, but that we can't keep silent. We must engage in conversation and action if we are ever to live in the world that Martin Luther King Jr. imagined. Below are some resources to help us think, talk, pray, and act in ways that help to build up the Peaceable Kingdom here on earth.
In this interview from the University of Pennsylvania, Howard Stevenson, a clinical psychologist who studies racial literacy and racial trauma, gives clear advice for parents. "We can’t hide our children from the world. Your child is probably already more aware of race, class, and gender differences than you realize. This can be a time to teach your child about social justice, while also helping process how painful these events can be for them, and for you." He says to give “Affection, Correction, and Protection” to our children, discuss the real reasons and complexities rather giving than simplistic explanations or answers, avoid either/ors, and listen to the children. Be mindful of how they're responding to the situation, and be open to learning from them.
On readbrightly.com, Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich says "we talk about needing to talk about race without ever actually talking honestly about race." She says we should first examine our own beliefs about race, perhaps by taking one of Harvard’s Implicit Association Tests. Then ask your children about what they're hearing, and what they're thinking. Don't assume you already know their thoughts and feelings. Then you can have conversations, perhaps guided by some of the many books she recommends.
On parenttoolkit.com, a co-authored article says that while "There’s no such thing as 'quick tips' or foolproof advice when it comes to discussing the complexities of race...there are better ways to go about it." If we don't talk about race with our children, perhaps because we want our children to be "color blind," they will nevertheless absorb racial biases or worse. We need to discuss racial justice with children--and, more importantly, model it.
Here's an excellent guide for assessing children's books for explicit or implicit biases. Be sure to check the illustrations for stereotypes and tokenism ("Regularly seeing only 'one' person of any group in a book"); also look for "invisibility": "What children do not see in their books also teaches them about who matters and who doesn’t in our society." And of course, what "messages" do the books convey? Are the words and actions of the characters models for your children (without being moralizing)? And is it interesting and compelling? If not, it doesn't matter how good the content is!
SocialJusticeBooks.org also lists recommended books for children by category. You may already have some of these books without knowing it, like Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type!
Similarly, EmbraceRace.org offers book recommendations and guides for building a collection of diverse and positive books.
Educational television, and even TV meant for entertainment, has its merits, but it can also have implicit biases that reinforce the structures of oppression in our society. And some shows are just bad. This critique of Blippi (warning: it contains profanity), for example, explains how "educational" television can be shallow and simplistic, especially as compared with creative and complex shows like Mr. Rogers and the early Sesame Street.
"It’s easy to criticize, and there are millions of parents and children who like Blippi, so let me say something positive about him and then give constructive advice for what good educational videos could be like. Blippi is not wholly valueless. He’s quite good at identifying the different parts of heavy industrial machinery, and if Blippi were, say, the Big Machines guy on a children’s show that mostly focused on the other 99 percent of the world, I would have no objection to him at all except that he seems phony. Unfortunately, Blippi’s "educational' show is missing all of the elements that make children actually think and help them grow into creative and emotionally sophisticated people.
Paw Patrol is a beloved kids' show that became part of the conversation around Black Lives Matter and Defund the Police. This article explains why it matters how we depict police and their actions on television, even if we're half-joking about the this show in particular.
"[Defund the Paw Patrol is] a joke, but it’s also not. As the protests against racist police violence enter their third week, the charges are mounting against fictional cops, too. Even big-hearted cartoon police dogs — or maybe especially big-hearted cartoon police dogs — are on notice. The effort to publicize police brutality also means banishing the good-cop archetype, which reigns on both television and in viral videos of the protests themselves. 'Paw Patrol' seems harmless enough, and that’s the point: The movement rests on understanding that cops do plenty of harm."
Another popular but problematic show (and book series) is Thomas & Friends. Criticisms abound — classist, racist, sexist — because of its overt Toryism. This article offers a theological critique that gets to the heart of its problems.
Unlike Catholic theology, which emphasizes that all humans have dignity because they are humans made in the image and likeness of God, the theological anthropology in Thomas & Friends emphasizes how differences make us 'really very different.' This is not a good lesson for children who should be taught to see differences of race and class as things that don’t make us 'really very different' because we are all human."
Are any popular shows good, then? Yes, there's lots out there! You can use the tools above about books and apply them to shows your children watch. But if you want a list, here are 13 FABULOUS KIDS’ TV SHOWS THAT PASS THE MAISY TEST AND HAVE OTHER GREAT FEATURES, TOO . These aren't obscure shows, so you'll be happy to know your children may already be watching many of them, such as Dinosaur Train, Bubble Guppies, Peg + Cat, and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. [<--IMAO this is the best one out there for young children!]
In a National Catholic Reporter article, Fr. Bryan N. Massingale says that "Amy Cooper," who called the cops on a black birdwatcher in Central Park, "knew exactly what she was doing. We all do. And that's the problem." He challenges us to see how pervasive white privilege is even for well-meaning people who care about civil rights and shows us what we can do about it.
In a letter, CGSUSA reaffirms the orientation towards peace and solidarity in CGS and challenges us with the parable of the Good Samaritan used in the Level 2 and 3 atrium. "The parable calls us to consider our role as we cannot remove ourselves from the wrongs committed in our society. Are we like those two in the parable, who 'saw the man' and then 'passed by on the other side'? In these days may we be 'moved with compassion at the sight' of injustice and look to stand in solidarity with those who are vulnerable and oppressed."
The association also provides links by the bishops and leaders of the churches that use CGS, and excellent links for "Further Reflection" similar to the ones given above.
For more articles and resources on this subject, visit Greater Good Magazine. They've collected a number of excellent pieces on the topic of anti-racism from many angles.
In Raising White Kids, Professor Jennifer Harvey offers age-appropriate insights for parents, educators, and leaders in the church, community, and government for teaching children how to address racism. More specifically, she talks about how we can help white children be mindful of racial relations, their own identity, and the role they can play for justice in the world.
In Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People, Professors Mahzarin R. Banaji and Anthony G. Greenwald help us to understand how and why people have biases, even ones we don't approve of. Their work with Harvard's Implicit Association Tests (mentioned above) shows the science behind people's "blindspots," and how we can work to align our implicit cognitive and behavioral biases with our true beliefs and values.
In Violence and Nonviolence in Scripture, Catherine Maresca, a CGS catechist, explores some of the Bible's most important but violent stories, like Abraham "sacrificing" Isaac and the drowning of Pharaoh's army during the Exodus--both of which are readings at Easter and studied by the older children in CGS. She also explores the prophets' messages of Shalom and Christ's revolutionarily nonviolent preaching about the Kingdom or rather "Kindom" of God, which even the youngest children in CGS meditate upon. Ultimately Maresca shows the unitive and progressive revelation of God in the Bible and in Christ that is moving towards peace and Parousia, and how we are called to actively participate in the this Plan of God.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
Note:
These resources are not meant to be definitive or exhaustive, nor do we necessarily agree with everything they say; they are meant, rather, to be a starting place for seeking justice in this world.
Additional resources are available on the parish website.