MPA Minute

Supporting families through Anti-racism Discussions

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We can no longer be silent

This last few months have been an emotional roller coaster and this week has just added to that sickening feeling you get during that initial jolt downward. Like many of you I watched Amy Cooper threaten Christian Cooper with a call to the police as if wielding a sword she knew would cut deep. Then it happened...George Floyd calling for his mother with his last few breaths. We heard the words that all black men in America fear saying and all black women in America fear hearing "I can't breathe." This time, like many others, sparked protests. Some sad, some violent, most peaceful; but all based in an overwhelmingly loud call for change. This change we need involves everyone having difficult conversations. I hope this collection of works and titles helps you to have the conversation with your children.

How Are We?

If you haven't spoke to a person of color since the Amy Cooper incident or the killing of George Floyd, you may not know how we feel. I want to share just a little of what we are feeling and going through these days. I know many of you are feeling the same things, but here is my perspective.


  • We are SAD - Crying tears for a story that could be any of us
  • We are SCARED - Quivering at the thought our world won't change for our children
  • We are SCARED - Worried that one day the name we call in protest will be a loved one
  • We are EXHAUSTED - Explaining why we feel the way we do is too much sometimes
  • We are ANGRY - George Floyd deserved better; we deserve better
  • We are TIRED - Ignoring racism is an all day job for us
  • We are OPTIMISTIC - Our friends will try to understand
  • We are HOPEFUL - A change is on the way; we cannot survive without one
Check your privilege ( Twitch & Allison video)

Resources

Children's Non-fiction

  • Let’s Talk about Race by Julius Lester
  • Dictionary for a Better World by Charles Latham
  • Woke: A Young Poet’s Call to Justice by Mahogany L. Browne with Elizabeth Acevedo and Olivia Gatwood
  • Not My Idea: A Book about Whiteness by Anatassia Higginbotham
  • Racism and Intolerance by Louise Spilsbury
  • We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices, edited by Wade Hudson and Cheryl Wells Hudson
  • On the Playground: Our First Talk about Prejudice by Dr. Jillian Roberts
  • Intersection Allies: We Make Room for All by Chelsea Johnson, LaToya Council, and Carolyn Choi
  • The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander and illustrated by Kadir Nelson
  • A is for Activist by Innosanto Nagara
  • Peaceful Fights for Equal Rights by Rob Sanders
  • Let the Children March by Monica Clark-Robinson
  • We Are the Change by Harry Belafonte
  • Be A King by Carole Boston Weatherford
  • Hey Black Child by Useni Eugene Perkins

Children's Fiction (Picture Books & Middle Grade)

  • Skin Again by Bell Hooks
  • Black is a Rainbow Color by Angela Joy
  • I Am Perfectly Designed by Karamo Brown
  • Something Happened in Our Town: A Child’s Story about Racial Injustice by Marianne Celano
  • Why Am I Me? by Paige Britt
  • I Can Write the World by Joshunda Sanders
  • I Am Enough by Grace Byers
  • Happy in Our Skin by Fran Manushkin
  • A Boy Like You by Frank Murphy
  • I Am Loved by Ashley Bryan
  • Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut by Derrick Barnes
  • Hair Love by Matthew Cherry
  • My Hair is a Garden by Cozbi A. Cabrera
  • Hands Up! by Brenna McDaniel
  • All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold
  • The Big Umbrella by Amy June Bates
  • Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship by Irene Latham and Charles Waters
  • Tan to Tamarind: Poems about the Color Brown by Malathi Michelle Iyengar
  • I Walk with Vanessa by Kerascoet
  • Say Something by Peter Reynolds
  • Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes
  • A Good Kind of Trouble by Lisa Ramee Moore
  • Blended by Sharon Draper
Kojo for Kids with Jason Reynolds

In this episode of Kojo N'jame's Kojo for Kids, he speaks with author Jason Reynolds about racism and protests

How to raise kids to be anti-racist and talk to them about racism

Additional Resources

  • Teaching Tolerance: Raising Open-minded Empathetic Children by Sara Bullard

  • We Can’t Teach What We Don’t Know: White Teachers, Multiracial Schools by Gary Howard

  • How to be Anti Racist, Ibram X. Kendi

  • Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You: A Remix of the National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi

  • We Got This. Equity, Access and the Quest to Be Who Our Students Need Us to Be by Cornelius Minor

  • Being the Change: Lessons and Strategies to Teach Social Comprehension by Sara Ahmed

  • White Kids: Growing Up With Privilege in a Racially Divided America by Margaret A. Hagerman

  • Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children In A Racially Unjust America by Jennifer Harvey

  • Waking up White by Debby Irving