In honor of May Day: Challenging conversations about domestic work

In honor of May Day: Challenging conversations about domestic work

by guest blogger Makeba Sergeant Rasin When my son was younger, talking about race felt simple. I’d read “Whose Knees Are These,” with my one-year-old and then coo, afterwards, about how beautiful his brown skin is; his brown knees, toes,…

Playing Monopoly and my “anti-Monopoly” talk

Playing Monopoly and my “anti-Monopoly” talk

by Sachi Feris My almost-five-year-old has attended her fair share of protests since November. Even my 19-month-old raises a fist in protest when my daughter prompts a call and response: “One!” “We are the people!” “Two!” “A little bit louder!” “Three!”…

Interrupting Whiteness with my White family

Interrupting Whiteness with my White family

by guest blogger Shannon Cofrin Gaggero I am a White, cisgender woman, married to a White, cisgender man and we have two White children. I started naming race with my kids about two years ago, when my son was three and…

Using books to jump-start family conversations on race

Using books to jump-start family conversations on race

by guest blogger Andrew Maraniss When my kindergartner learned our family would be marching in Nashville’s Martin Luther King Day parade, she knew just what she wanted to carry: the MLK poster she had created in her art class. We…

Trump and the Muslim ban: A conversation with my eight-year-old

Trump and the Muslim ban: A conversation with my eight-year-old

by guest blogger Michael Loeb My daughter is eight years old and lives with me, Michael Loeb, a NYCDOE administrator, and Julia Davis, a civil rights attorney, in Brooklyn. This conversation was part of an ongoing attempt to help my…

Lessons on Social Justice Parenting and Protest from My Kindergartener

Lessons on Social Justice Parenting and Protest from My Kindergartener

by guest blogger Jardana Peacock The morning after the election of Donald Trump, I remember the heaviness in my body and heart. I had to tell my five-year-old, River, that Trump had been elected. River has accompanied my partner and…

My daughter asked me what Black Lives Matter meant. Here’s what I said…

My daughter asked me what Black Lives Matter meant. Here’s what I said…

by guest blogger Allison Kenny I am a White woman married to a Black woman raising a mixed race girl. We adopted her through the foster care system as a six-year-old. Conversations about race are something I am learning to…

Parenting for Liberation: Interrupting the school-to-prison pipeline

Parenting for Liberation: Interrupting the school-to-prison pipeline

by guest blogger Trina Greene Brown Yesterday, I went through my second-grader’s folder to review his homework and sign my initials on his daily agenda. In his folder, I was shocked to find a form with a personal note written…

Talking about slavery through a lens of resistance

by guest blogger Kesa Kivel  Never Give Up! Ama’s Journey to Freedom on the Underground is a free, coming-of-age historical fiction film set in the 1850s. The film provides excellent, well-researched content on slavery in the United States as well…

“Slavery was a long time ago;” An awkward moment at the grocery store

“Slavery was a long time ago;” An awkward moment at the grocery store

by guest blogger Sara Leo My daughter turned four a few months ago and we have recently begun talking about this country’s racial history in more specific terms. We have been using the book “Heart and Soul: The Story of…