My Racial Journey

Week 8

Racial Beliefs

Color Blind means claiming that you do not see or acknowledge race. This approach closes the door to any conversation about how race is impacting our society because it suggests that it is better to pretend that race is not visible. Color Brave means seeing race, being forthright about how seeing race influences your thinking and actions, and talking with others about how race plays a role in our interactions with each other. This transparency and honesty creates opportunities to address racial biases and change racist beliefs and behaviors.

Activity

From Blind to Brave

As people who work with children, we have an opportunity to shift the field from largely color blind to color brave. Let’s practice now. Below are photos, each with a color blind caption. Below, write your own captions. How would you write a different caption that modeled Color Bravery?

Remember, being color brave is not just the lack of color blindness. It is the open and direct account of how race is present and influencing every aspect of our life.

 

Rewrite the Caption

All captions are pulled from real Facebook posts. Original images have been replaced.

"People, let me tell you 'bout my best friend...' These Tiny tots are teaching us a simple, yet very important, lesson through this picture: be kind to one another and color blind to the difference between us."
"We only have one race. The human race."
“The girls’ moms said they are very proud their daughters don’t notice their differences, only their similarities. “I think that’s one of the nice things about growing up in a multicultural, melting pot city...They don’t see color. We’ve never talked about it, period.”

Adults who work with young children tend to endorse colorblind beliefs (Briggs, 2019; Husband, 2012), despite extensive research that children do see race and are influenced by racist messages in society. (Winkler, 2009)

Need help?

My Racial Journey was developed at the University of Pittsburgh Office of Child Development and with the Office’s Positive Racial Identity Development in Early Education (P.R.I.D.E.) Program. This work was funded by a 2019 Open Education Resource Grant from the University of Pittsburgh’s Office of the Provost.

If you are interested in hiring experts on racial literacy guide you through My Racial Journey, please fill out the form below.

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My Racial Journey was created by the University of Pittsburgh
Office of Child Development and the Office’s P.R.I.D.E. Program.

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