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<\/p>\nHere is a great annotated list of books to help you have important conversations with your children or simply educate yourself about racial issues.<\/p>\n
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How to Talk to Kids About Race: Books and Resources That Can Help<\/strong><\/p>\n by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n excerpt:<\/p>\n Not too long ago, my daughter described a conversation at school, during lunch, in which another\u2019s student\u2019s race was mentioned.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s racist!\u201d someone else cried.<\/p>\n We live in a time when we are confronted with the complex realities of race, racial identity, and racism every day, but are also advised and often encouraged to avoid discussing it. Even the mere mention of someone\u2019s race is \u201cplaying the race card,\u201d or, as that child believed, \u201cracist.\u201d We talk about the need to be \u201ccolorblind\u201d or the idea that there is \u201cjust one race \u2014 the human race.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMost Americans believe in racial and gender equality and reject discrimination in any form. Yet stereotypes embedded in our brains, shaped over time by history and culture, can lead us to view the world through a biased lens and behave contrary to our deeply held egalitarian values,\u201d states The Perception Institute, an organization working to \u201creduce discrimination and other harms linked to race, gender, and other identity differences.\u201d<\/p>\n While \u201cI don\u2019t see color\u201d may come from a well-meaning place, studies show that it more likely does a great deal of harm. If we look closer, we often find that much of our reluctance to address race directly stems from our tendency to want to avoid discomfort. Yeah, it\u2019s hard to talk about why #BlackLivesMatter has become a rallying cry, the legacy of our government\u2019s relationship with its Native citizens, or why some individuals are called \u201cillegal\u201d and \u201calien.\u201d Clinical psychologist, author, and professor Beverly Tatum asks us to \u201cThink about these stereotypes, these omissions, these distortions as a kind of environment that surrounds us, like smog in the air. We don\u2019t breathe it because we like it. We don\u2019t breathe it because we think it\u2019s good for us. We breathe it because it\u2019s the only air that\u2019s available.\u201d<\/p>\n This is the world that we inhabit; we talk about needing to talk about race without ever actually talking honestly about race. I believe that it\u2019s vital that we help our children (and ourselves) walk and talk in a way that clears that air and breathes new life into these conversations and our world. Sharing stories, real, fictional, our own, and others\u2019, is a powerful tool for that purpose. Here are a few resources and books to help us have those hard conversations with the young people in our lives.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n