Do Parents Teach to Hate?

Features, Sociology, Viewpoints

By Katie Hauser

Take a minute to think about how your family influences the decisions you make on a daily basis. For the most part they influence you in a positive way; with regards to your interests, values, and goals. Do not forget however, they can also be responsible for the hate you feel, but more specifically, racism. When we are born, our innocence remains untouched; in a sense we are all “colorblind”. Parents hold sole responsibility for maintaining this innocence, while teaching their children about race; and unfortunately their racist comments, feelings and views are absorbed by their children. It is not until later in our lives that we may realize the affect of our parents’ views on our own personal thought about racism. But when does this realization occur? Will it be too late to change our views at that point? If we are able to gain new perspectives, how we discuss race with our children will become a key part in changing their attitudes. Family becomes an essential part in minimizing and eventually ending racism; although we are far from this hope, know a contributing factor and its influence is a start to a change.

Resources:

Voices of Pain and Voices of Hope- Students Speak about Racism By Jerome Rabow pp. 13-14 “When I first learned about race…”

mwalsh @ November 17, 2008