Intercultural Talk was delighted to catch up with Dr. Charlton McIlwain following his ‘appearance’ on DoctorRadio on Sirius/XM Radio earlier this week, talking about “Teaching Kids about Race.” 1. What are the top three pointers you have for parents when teaching kids about race? 1. Be willing to talk to your kids about race. 2.…
Your 7 year old child who is white hesitates to shake someone’s hand who is African-American. Your first grader tells another student she’s “a lesbian with her sister.” You were there. You weren’t there. You are the most open, anti-racist, multicultural person you know. Where did your child get this from? I’ve seen stories about…
My dad and I came to an impasse again recently. It happens whenever we get into a conversation about race. Or more specifically, a conversation about something that happened in the news or real life where people of different races were involved. As in “they believe this way” from him, and “you can’t call an…
First off, I have to tell you my husband HATES the word “play date.” In the olden days (both in the US and Brazil) you just went outside and whoever else was out, that was who you played with. But in today’s world of single parents, two working parents, carefully orchestrated schedules and a good…
Dillon and I LOVED listening to “Project Mulberry,” a novel by Linda Sue Park, read by actress/narrator Mina Kim. We started the 4+ hour, 4 CD set on the way back to Chicago from St. Louis, and then ended up listening to it over the course of the next week, on the way to school…
The problem with stereotyping is that it presumes guilt before innocence, dictating that someone will behave a certain way because of their race or ethnicity. In the extreme, the results can be devastating, as they were for the late Timothy Cole, a young black man who was exonerated last week for a rape he didn’t…
It would seem impossible for anyone to deny the close, interconnectedness of all peoples around the globe, given the immediate domino effect of crashing economies around the world that continues, following the initial crises in the US. For me, it was Iceland going bankrupt just three days into the crisis that hit this message home. …
I know, I know, many an ‘anti-racist’ will say that simply enjoying the foods and traditions of another culture as a ‘tourist’ does nothing to combat racism. But, honestly, I disagree. I’m raising a 7 year old, and for now I’m not going to go into in-depth history to explain why there is racism and…
