The media provides people with a way to receive news, find out the hottest trends, or where to buy the best products out on the market, and provides so many other services. Social media has exploded in the last few years with apps/websites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat. These make accessing information, and communication more efficient than it has ever been before. The media cultivate people’s perceptions of others as categories rather than individuals by continually reinforcing stereotypes.
I watched a video of several young children being asked the question of which baby doll was either “good”, or “bad” when they were shown an African American and a white doll. The children were all of various different races. All of the children answered that the white baby doll was the “good” doll, and the African American doll was the “bad” doll. Here we are seeing how children who, even at such a young age, have already been detrimentally affected by those around them, including the media. This video shocked me because I was absolutely stunned that such young children were already corrupted by society’s racist, prejudice ways. Society’s tendency to create categories and reinforce social norms around these identities is so extremely harmful. Rita Tenorio wrote that contrary to the beliefs of many adults, children are not “colorblind”. Although we want to believe that children don’t decipher between black and white, the fact of the matter is they do. “Instead, they have an unstated but nonetheless sophisticated understanding of issues of race and power” (Tenorio, 379). This brings us back to the question of what racism is and why it occurs? In Johnson’s chapter of Capitalism, Class and the Matrix of Domination, when he teaches about race his students observe and pose the questions, “We don’t get it. If race is socially constructed and doesn’t exist otherwise, and if human beings don’t have to be afraid of one another, than where does racism come from? Why all the oppression and hostility and violence over something that’s made up?” These are questions that will never have a right answer. Children are affected by society’s tendency of grouping people into races and categories in so many different ways. It affects the way they interact with students, how they feel they should “fit” into their own categories of race, and essentially how they will live their entire lives. For example when you walk down a toy aisle at Target labeled “boys” you will be overwhelmed with the amount of trucks and the color blue you would see. Similarly, when you walk down the “girls” aisle barbies, princesses, and hair accessories would occupy the entire space. This gives children the message that in order to be a boy or girl these are the things that they have to like and play with. This subconsciously affects children’s understanding of who they are.
Rita Tenorio feels that “One of our most important roles as teachers… is to recognize racism’s effect on children, address the issue directly, and give students the beginning skills and strategies they will need to combat racism in their lives” (Tenorio, 379). I also believe that educators need to recognize that racism is an issue that is embedded in classrooms. In one of the videos we watched in class, a kindergarten teacher asked students to answer questions about racism that made them think about it in a deeper way. Similarly, when one of Tenorio’s kindergarten students called another a name based on the color of her skin, she went a step further and asked why he did this. In doing so, she made the student truly think about his/her actions. I believe that all teachers shouldn’t just brush off small instances like these, but instead confront them head on. Educators should aim to help students dismantle structural inequality and help students in becoming more accepting of a broader range of identities. Teachers can do so by setting aside days, or making lesson plans that are focused around educating students on the various cultures that make up the world and their own classrooms. This would help children become more worldly, and aware of their surroundings. It would also prevent children from being so close minded, and the thought process that everyone that they meet will be exactly like them. This would also be a way to be inclusive of all of the students who make up a classroom.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG7U1QsUd1g
Tenorio, R (1997)/ “Race and Respect Among Young Children.” In Rethinking our Classrooms. Pp. 24-28.
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