Key takeaways for healthcare providers
- Parents, peers, and schools all represent critical influences in determining how white1 adolescents understand racism and their actions toward social justice.
- Having explicit conversations with white youth about racism and embedding children in racially diverse environments that recognize race are essential to countering the dominant color-blind narrative that race “doesn’t matter.”
- Conversations about race with white youth need to go beyond acknowledging historical and contemporary racism, and encourage anti-racist attitudes and actions to address inequities.
Children receive messages about race and color blindness from multiple sources
There is no “neutral” in racism. All young people learn to strengthen or disrupt systems of inequality that maintain or sustain a racist status quo. As such, protecting white children from learning about race and the racist history of the United States encourages a way of knowing that is detached from the nation’s racial realities and further supports white supremacy and racism.
Unlike the Color-blind narrative that positions racism as a thing of the past and “everyone as equal”, racism is embedded in structural forces (e.g. law, institutions, housing) and continues to shape all people’s experiences (albeit differently). The colorblind narrative is pervasive among white parents and caregivers and within predominantly white settings (including school settings). Just for example 53% of white parents believe that schools should teach about the ongoing impact of slavery and racism in the United States, with 82% of black parents holding this view.
For white youth, social environments that contradict the colorblind narrative and instead address racism can be integral to advancing social justice.
Regardless of whether children receive explicit messages about race, they interpret the different experiences, interactions and (un)intentional messages in their lives. Parents, peers, and schools are three interrelated influences that shape how children understand race during adolescence. For white youth, social environments that contradict the colorblind narrative and instead address racism can be integral to advancing social justice.
What social contexts about race and racism do white adolescents in the United States experience?
In our research study, we examined the myriad influences that shape how white youth understand racism and the resulting consequences for their social justice behavior. We used survey data from the Maryland Adolescent Development in Context Study to examine the racial environments of 323 white adolescents (i.e., the social contexts that may shape their beliefs and attitudes about race and racism), with a particular focus on conversations with parents about race and racial attitudes, friendships between races, and conversations with peers about race .
We also looked at the diversity of the youth schools with regard to racial composition and curriculum. We next examined how these different racial environments during adolescence (16–17 years old) related to white youth’s social justice actions two years later in young adulthood. All of the study participants lived in a racially and socioeconomically diverse county in the eastern United States.
Photo: cotton bro studio. Pexels.
The racial environment of most adolescents (80%) was characterized by silence or passivity about race. Such environments are in line with a color blind story in which racism is downplayed or ignored, limiting the ability of white adolescents to disrupt and challenge racism. However, the racial environment of some adolescents (20%) was more race conscious, meaning that race-related conversations were more common, schools were racially diverse and recognized race and racism in the curriculum, and adolescents had interracial friendships.
How did different racial environments influence white adolescents’ social justice action?
White teenagers breed conscious environments showed more social justice during young adulthood than white adolescents in racial environments characterized by silence. This behavior included participation in civil rights or women’s rights groups. Our findings suggest that when white youth are in environments that are racially diverse and recognize race and racism, they are more likely to take action as a young adult to promote and advance social justice.
How can parents foster social justice attitudes and behaviors in their white children?
The findings of our study, in combination with other recent findings, challenge the commonly held color-blind belief that not talking about race promotes justice. Instead, they suggest having explicit conversations about racism and inequality, and embedding children in them environments (e.g., schools) that are racially diverse or aware of racism can encourage white adolescents to reflect and take action to create and maintain equitable social conditions for all people.
How can parents and caregivers promote a race-conscious environment for white youth?
First, parents and caregivers of white children need to think about their own racial attitudes and beliefs. As we saw in our study, even parents who thought they had “positive” racial attitudes can foster a color-blind racial environment for their children.
Parents and caregivers should talk to their white children about racism early and often.
Therefore, parents should challenge themselves to think critically about race in the United States and how their own racial identity relates to the continued perpetuation or disruption of racism. Numerous sources are available to initiate such critical reflection, including engagement with the works (e.g., film, books, art) of authors and artists of color portraying the racial realities of the United States.
Second, parents and caregivers should talk after such a reflection early and often with their white children about racism. For example, if children are raising or noticing race, parents should discuss what their child is noticing instead of silencing them or communicating that noticing race is bad.
Building the skills of white adolescents
Discussing race and racism, celebrating and acknowledging (which often happens) the contributions of people of color. ruled out of mainstream narratives), addressing racial police killings and violence, and reflecting on the history and current manifestations of white supremacy are integral to developing white adolescent skills for anti-racism work and for actively communicating the racial realities of the United States. States. (See Embrace Race raising young white allies for more resources.)
Finally, the results of our study highlight the multidimensional nature of children’s racial environment. In other words, it isn’t just now parents who play a role in how children understand racism, but rather a multitude of influences, including but not limited to peers and school. As such, promoting white youth social justice behaviors means embedding children in racially diverse environments where friendships between races can develop and where school curricula recognize and affirm people of color.
![the development of social justice by white adolescents](https://childandfamilyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/pexels-ron-lach-10484716.jpg 1279w, https://childandfamilyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/pexels-ron-lach-10484716-300x200.jpg 300w, https://childandfamilyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/pexels-ron-lach-10484716-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://childandfamilyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/pexels-ron-lach-10484716-768x512.jpg 768w, https://childandfamilyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/pexels-ron-lach-10484716-356x237.jpg 356w, https://childandfamilyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/pexels-ron-lach-10484716-700x467.jpg 700w, https://childandfamilyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/pexels-ron-lach-10484716-50x33.jpg 50w)
Photo: Ron Laugh. Pexels.
White parents and caregivers can also promote change in their children’s schools by standing alongside parents of color allies and teach their children to stand up against racism. Parents can also support candidates in local and state elections who recognize the importance of discussing racism in educational settings. (See this article for more information on the critical race theory debate in schools.)
Finally – racial justice requires consideration of whiteness and opposing narratives
The take-home message is that achieving a state of racial justice requires taking whiteness into account and countering the pervasive color-blind narratives that feed false and inaccurate views of racism in the United States. In particular, our study shows how race-conscious environments can counteract the racist status quo by building white youth’s social justice efforts. Our findings also underline the role of white parents and caregivers in ensuring that the next generation strives for a just and anti-racist society.
1 While the Child & Family Blog’s style is to capitalize “White,” the authors purposely did not capitalize the word wthen it refers to skin color. For information that supports this rule, see The associated press.