by Anti-Racist Parent special correspondent Colin Bowden
Biting my tongue: Weighing pros and cons of reacting to insensitivity – Kimchi Mamas
When is it right to act against insensitive and offensive comments? When is it wrong? Mama Nabi confronts this complexity head-on at her sister’s wedding, and takes an interesting choice of action.
Handling Racism as a Child – Upside-Down Adoption
“I want to take a very close look at the statement that “parents of color are better equipped to teach their children how to handle racism”. It’s a statement that’s very important for transracial and intraracial adoption. It often gets dropped into a debate or a conversation and just left there.”
how to make me angry – bloogs blowing by
“He was a middle-aged white male, and clearly I was getting sketchy vibes from him. Did he not realize that I was in the process of backing the stroller OUT of the coffee shop?”
But do we really need another princess? – Mamazilla
“Ok, so we could use a little more diversity amongst the awkward rebellious teenaged Disney royalty but another princess? Can’t Disney animate a few dozen more everyday humdrum girls of color? It sounds like that’s what we really need.”
Freed teen: ‘I feel like I have a 2nd chance – Chicago Tribune
Shaquanda Cotton, the 14 yr old girl jailed for 7 years in Texas for pushing a school hall monitor, has been released after a year of imprisonment. With bloggers patting themselves on the back and Texas officials trying to cover their arses, it looks like Ms. Cotton will finally get a chance to live her normal life once again. Personally, I say tell people this when they say there’s no such thing as judicial racism or institutionalized racism anymore.
Recommended Reading is a weekly feature where we link to some of our favorite parenting-related blog posts and articles. If you would like to suggest a link to Colin, please email tips@loveisntenough.com.
I am so God-awful grateful, and pleased, and saddened, and heartened: Shaquanda is out of prison.
I sat down to write to her this morning, and admonished myself for the voyeuristic hubris. I got up, tended to the yard and its weeds, and told myself to start again.
And then this. She is in my thoughts.
My hope here is that people feel free to read these and make comments bout the links. It should, if not now certainly in the future anyway, lead to fruitful discussion.
Welcome Colin!
My family is relatively new to this site (we have been lurking for a couple of months) but it has already given us so many valuable insights into our new role as transracial adoptive parents and my husband and I visit nearly every day. We are graduates of the UW and still live in the area, and are very excited to hear that our favorite site now has a local representative.
All of these links were interesting, but I particularly found Kimchi Mamas blog relevant to us, as it is something we already struggle with. It is such a delicate balance between wanting to educate people, slap them, or do what you can to control your temper, not escalate the situation or make assumptions about people’s intent – and of course for us, the most important thing is what our daughter takes from what she sees/hears of the interaction. Throwing family in the mix makes it doubly hard, but doubly important to address too, I think.
Welcome Colin…. these links are all great!