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Racism, sexism, and other negative "isms" begin at home. Children largely mirror what they see in their parents--and not necessarily what parents say, but what they do. My son and his wife have never discussed "race" with their offspring, and , but they have demonstrated that "race" has no meaning when it comes to humans. My grandchildren will be surprised and dismayed when they find that brown people are treated differently by some white people.

Cases in point: my DIL called me this morning and told me something that my granddaughter said last night. They were having a chat (said chat is largely a stalling device against going to bed) and the was talking about her friends at school (PreK). She has particular liked besties and of , she said, "I wish I looked like Suzy because she has beautiful brown skin and black hair." My granddaughter describes herself as "peach," not "white" and has blond hair.

A few years ago, my grandson noticed that his legs were turning color as he was in the as often as possible. He noted the change to his mom and she told him it was natural and he was "tanning." He said, "Good. I always wanted brown skin like John," (my then Black BF).

Keep in mind these have no issues with how they look. If anyone tells my grandson he is "cute," his autism blocks any modesty and he says, "Yes, I know!" My granddaughter looks in the mirror and says, "I look so cute!"

The point is that racism is a learned behavior. The Black family who lives next door to my son is just another family and the were not exposed to the toxic neighbor across the street who is racist (now gone as his wife dumped him).

And that's how it should be. Such a simple concept . . .

Gwendolyn2018 9 Feb 15
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5 comments

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1

I'm prejudiced against vampires, I hope that hasn't screwed my kid up for life. (She's a fan of Twilight.)

@Gwendolyn2018 As opposed to real vampires?

@Gwendolyn2018 Yeek. Anne Rice is the first step on the path to the Dark Side.

Twilight even got called out in an episode of one of my favorite webcomics.

@Gwendolyn2018 Well I wasn't directly drawing comparisons between Rice monsters and Twilight, but she did (as far as I'm aware) open the door to the idea that a vampire could be a sympathetic character, and even a desirable thing to be. I say, stake 'em all and let the dustman sort them out.

I don't know if you've come acros Saberhagen's The Dracula Tapes, wherein the Count himself tells his side of the story and points up some obvious (in hindsight) flaws in Stoker's narrative. For instance, they attempted to treat Lucy Westenra (I think it was anyway) by giving her blood transfusions, years before blood typing. No wonder the poor girl got worse. The only way to save her, in this telling, was giving her life as a vampire. And Van Helsing was a sick, sick man (which came through for me in Stoker as well).

3

Divide and conquer...It is a manipulation tactic used by leaders to redirect negative emotions/behavior aways from themselves towards a targeted demographic.

The solution is simple, implementing it is the difficult part. As long as there is greed for wealth, power, and control, racism/isms will survive.

Betty Level 8 Feb 15, 2022
3

While at a store last year, one of the staff offered to help my niece and mother with their search. She said that my niece pulled her aside and whispered that she didn't trust the store associate and should look for someone else. My mother had an inkling, but asked her why she felt that way. My niece said she didnt want to because she knew my mother would be upset if she said it. So my mother assured her she wouldn't be mad to get the truth. "It's because his skin is too dark", she said. My niece was 6 at the time. Her mother is white and belongs to a fundamentalist christian family. My mother tried telling her that she's also Black because her father is, and my niece laughs and says "No, I'm white". My niece views her family with brown skin as safe, but her mother's family has clearly began teaching her generational racism. Something my brother will need to stay vigilant with. He's married now and shares custody of my niece with his ex, so every so often he has to help her "unlearn" racially negative things his ex has taught her. I'm sure it's been eye opening for him, and a bit heartbreaking for the rest of us. Love her to pieces and I miss her stinky butt to bits.

Beautiful, both mother and daughter.

0

Thanks for the story. This is exactly how it should be.

5

Racism is learned and passed down to offspring

bobwjr Level 10 Feb 15, 2022

I’ve always believed that children learn what they live.

@Redheadedgammy Very much so

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