Article Summaries

Race and Respect Among Young Children: One Teacher’s Journey
Written by Rita Tenorio

The author teaches children just like you. One day in her class, a little girl was almost in tears because another student called her a mean name based on the color of her skin. He thought she would not say anything to the teacher and he could get away with it. He was wrong. Words we say to others can be very hurtful. Our words matter to our classmates. We can’t pretend that everyone is exactly the same, but the things that make each of us different should not be seen as bad things. The teacher realized that she had to figure out how to teach children to embrace, or support their differences in her classroom, rather than ignore them. When children said naughty things based on how a child looks or acts in her class, she used it as an example to teach why we don’t do that.



“Colorblindness is the New Racism”
Written by Margalynne J. Armstrong and Stephanie M. Wildman

Some people have more power than others. Sometimes, people with power don't even know they have it. How we look can change the amount of power we have. White people tend to have more power and often say they are “colorblind,” meaning they don’t see that other people look different from them. Pretending differences are not there doesn’t make everyone the same. “Color insight” gives us a better way to think by having us see that we can have differences and still be equal. It is okay to notice other people's differences, but not to treat them a certain way because of those differences.