8/13/2019 5 Kindergarten Racism

1/3

(5) Kindergarten Racism

A witnessing of an American father

When my daughter was in kindergarten I spent about 2-3 hours every week

volunteering in her class. I wanted to get to know her classmates and be part

of her first year of school. The teacher was a kind man. He gave me

interesting things to do with the kids and I got to know all of them pretty

well.

The class had !" kids !2 boys and # girls mostly white. $ut five of the boys

were black. The teacher who was pretty young and the teacher%s assistants

who were a bit older were all white as am I. I never thought much about it.

$ut then I started noticing that the teacher treated the black boys much

differently than the white boys reacting much more harshly to the same

behaviors if committed by the black boys rather than the white ones.

The teachers% assistant a very nice woman became almost a different

person when working with the black kids. &he would assume they could not

do the pro'ect or assignment and would often 'ust give up. I would step in

and could see that these kids could do the pro'ects 'ust as well as any of the

other kids in the class.

$ut the most memorable event had to do with a substitute teacher. &he waswhite probably in her 3(s from a suburban area. &he was very

uncomfortable with the black kids.

When one of them did something or needed some direction she acted like

she was afraid of them. In fact I could see that she was afraid of them. The

e)pression on her face showed fear almost terror. These are five year olds

that I am talking about.

&he asked me to deal with them which I did. I knew the kids pretty well by

then and they knew me.

What has stuck with me from that day is the fear on the face of this woman.

* fear of five year olds because they were black. That really opened my

eyes. I reali+ed how naive I had been.

,rom that moment I began noticing a lot of things that we white folks are

used to not seeing not recogni+ing or ignoring. How black kids are treated

8/13/2019 5 Kindergarten Racism

2/3

differently in a negative sense by the white adults in authority. *nd of

course other kids notice that.

ne day my daughter came home from kindergarten and said /The dark-

skinned boys are bad./ *t that time we were shocked that she would say

that but I reali+ed that she was 'ust saying what she was seeing. The adultsin the room treated the black boys as bad and so they were bad. White boys

who did the same things were merely mischievous.

0ost white *mericans allegedly think that racism is a thing of the past and

that we live in a colorblind society. *ny continuing disadvantages

e)perienced by blacks must by this logic be their own fault. *nd we should

not even talk about race because it is offensive.

We live in the 1ortheast of the nited &tates in a town that is very liberal.

1o one is openly racist. et the attitudes of white adults towards these blackchildren reflect a deep-rooted racism. What I saw in the kindergarten class

was real. *nd it showed me that if most white *mericans believe racism is

dead then most white *mericans do not understand how insidious racism

continues to be.

*nd of course part of the problem was me. I did not stand up to any of these

people and call them on their racism. Thinking about it now some of them

were probably not even aware of what they were doing. I know that they

would have been e)tremely offended if I had pointed it out. &ince I was a

new kindergarten parent I was careful on this and on other issues. If it werenow I think I would have reacted differently.

$ut would it have mattered4

*ll of these school district employees had been through /multicultural and

diversity training/ meant to make them sensitive to issues of race and class.

$ut it did not seem to help. I know groups that advocate for children of color

in our town and they are frustrated with the school district administration

and much of the school board. The administration and board are all good

white liberals and they 'ust do not understand it.

I do not have an answer. $ut these personal e)periences have led me to see

what the bottom line is. The race problem in this country is a white problem.

Discussion

8/13/2019 5 Kindergarten Racism

3/3

!. 5o you think this witnessing reflects the real situation or is it sub'ective4

2. Is it possible for a teacher to be a racist4

3. How do people become racists4

6. Is there racism in &erbian kindergartens and schools4

7. 5o you have an e)ample from your own e)perience4