As I started getting dressed for a Black Lives Matter march, my son asked if he could go with me. To be honest, I like keeping it as real as possible with my kids but for this one, I was torn. Should I take him or leave his behind at home? He’s a mature 13-year-old. He’s also the son of a dark skin Puerto Rican and black man. However, he is also my baby and all I could think about was his safety. We all have seen the riots, the beatings, all the negative things in the media and that the government have been pushing. But how about all the positive things protesting brings? The … [Read more...]
Struggling to Make Sense of a World in Continuing Crisis
I'm finding it difficult deciding what to write about, my friends. It’s not that I don’t have ideas; it’s just that I don’t know what might be best. I have written here about baseball a few times. I guess I could again, even without games being played, big or little league. Baseball memories linger long, as you know. In fact, I just came across an image from a Little League game some years back. It was taken from behind the backstop showing one of my twin sons crouching in too-big catcher’s gear and the other twin on the mound, his left arm just coming down after the pitch, a slider it … [Read more...]
The Racism We Gift Our Children
My 13-year-old son, Yosef, is black. I’m white. Most times, we’re too busy to take notice of the difference. Never, though, have I felt a pastier shade of white than when I talk to my son about the anecdotes of racial divide that dot the national headlines on what recently seems to be a daily basis. When President Trump calls U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings out in the context of Baltimore crime statistics and subpar housing conditions, Yosef looks to me to make sense of people calling our commander in chief a racist, asking in confusion, “They’re saying the President is racist. What?” After … [Read more...]
Bipartisan Parenting: Turning Presidential Racism into Teachable Moment
On the same day President Trump reportedly said “s---hole” countries in Africa were inferior sources for future American immigrants, my 12th-grade daughter was starting to read Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness in English class. The juxtaposition was too much.Conrad’s British novel indicts the racism of European imperialism in Africa in the late 1800s, specifically during the ivory trade. Ironically, however, many readers consider the novel a racist text because of the way it backgrounds Africa, stereotypes the “primitive” natives, and treats the whole continent as a blank slate for the white … [Read more...]
Raising Race Aware, Respectful Kids By Noticing ‘What’s the Difference’
We continue the national discussion on race and raising children by having Los Angeles Dads Group member Doyin Richards, author of the new children's book What’s the Difference?: Being Different is Amazing., joins us on the Modern Dads Podcast What's the Difference? is aimed at children ages 2 to 10, and covers diversity and acceptance. It introduces children to race relations by teaching them not to be colorblind, but rather "race aware." It encourages them to recognize and embrace the differences of the people they encounter in life. Richards, a father of two who became … [Read more...]