Customer Reviews

40 Ways to Raise a Nonracist Child

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I was leary at first to read this book as racism is a hard subject to cover. However I am very impressed. Barbara Mathias and Mary Ann French did a superb job. These authors do not suggest you pretend race does not exist, in fact, they suggest you do not do that. The reader who said this book was 40 ways to program a child must have not actually read the book. The first section has advice for all parents and then the rest of the book is divided into age groups: Infancy through Preschool, The Early Elementary School years, The Upper Elementary School years, the Young Teen Years and the High School Years. Topics include: Insist on Respect, Select a Diverse Middle School, Face your Teen's Prejudice, Involve the Community and Don't Pretend Discrimination Doesn't exist.

The Very second item is about why White parents should care about racism. In Ms. Mathias Introduction, she approaches the potential risk in approaching racism in a format such as '40 Ways to..." and she assures us that she does not mean to imply that racism is not a serious matter but that parents have little time to read long books about parenting. Ms. French also has an Introduction. These wonderful authors say that kids will notice differences and that's fine. While most of society thinks that going 'color-blind' will eliminate racism, these two (and I) do not agree. "Yes she does have darker skin than you. And you have lighter skin than her. It would be pretty boring if we were all the same wouldn't it?" is a premise of the book.

Finally, Ms. Mathis and Ms. French do not lay blame on any one race or age group. It's not the whites fault or the blacks or hispanics fault and it's not the parents fault or the kids fault. It's the communities fault and the community needs to work together to stop racism.

40 Ways really framed the issues for me and helped me sitdown and think about what I've been doing and what I cando to overcome this problem. What's most instructive is that so much racism is not overt, but a result of ignorance

How do we combat the racism of this country, especially that of white males? We do it by raising our children to challenge the assumptions of the powerful elite. As a feminist and white woman, I am proud to own a copy of this book. It is not, of course, a sophisticated discussion of racism such as bell hooks and other more transgressive/radical voices; yet it is a useful primer for those who have not given any thought to racism (i.e., the vast majority of people).

My comment is for the authors.I object to the cover of the book. One of the things that I find disheartening in media is the constant elimination of African-American girls. Their young counterparts are repeatedly included yet there is no one who reperesents them. This adds to the perception that other races have of them. As you present information to the public, consider what your message is to these girls. Please do not attempt to remedy this by picturing a bi-racial child. Such photos do not help.

Thank You, RM (A teacher and mom)

I read this book because I wanted to see what manner the author devised to combat nature and the manner is quite simply lie to your children. This book is simply a mannuel for the super PC to effectivly strip their children of all pride and indenity that comes from being a part of the extended family commonly called a race. I would not be surpised if this book was inspired by the works of Karl Marx. This book implies that you can simply convice your children that race does not exist, despite that science has disproven this. Your children, at some point, are going to figure out and ask you why jamal over there is a different color. That basic natural programming will always defeat the type of program this book discribes. Of course with years of public school programming, one might find a way to convince children that race does not exist, but this book will never work. Anyone that manges to take the sence of belonging and identiy that come of being part of a race from their children is just asking for a troubled child with the great risk of mental problems later in life. This book is just a pathetic attempt to rob children of their race and leave them without an idenity in an already morally bankrupt world. Don't even bother reading this trash, if you want a good book to help you explain race to your children with scientific facts to back it up, read "Race" by Dr. John Baker.