Occasionally, authors and publishers contact RevGalBlogPals
and ask if anyone has interest in reading a soon-to-be published book and then
reviewing it. Sometimes a few people jump at the chance & sometimes we
clamor. This was certainly a title that got my attention right away. My own
children are college-age now, but I am the Children’s minister in my church and
I knew this could be a great resource for my families. I was completely right.
Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children in a Racially
Unjust America by the Rev Dr Jennifer Harvey is a book I wish I had read 25
years ago before I had children.
Intuitively, I believe our family navigated racial discussions in much
the same method Dr Harvey recommends, but certainly not as intentionally.
Dr. Harvey advocates for Race Conscious Parenting: noticing
and commenting on racial and cultural differences and similarities in everyday
life and interactions. She advocates teaching white children their own stories
of race and culture and history, so that they can have their own sense of
racial identity which allows space for others to have their own sense of racial
identity. This sort of parenting must be intentional about naming our own
troubled histories as well. It requires the parents to educate themselves and
bring themselves up to speed in the discussions about race and racially unjust
structures.
The only criticism I have of the book is not even one I can
articulate well, except to say that I did not feel as though Dr Harvey went far
enough in explaining why we need to do this work within our own families. She
is very careful to say that we are not doing it from a “white savior”
standpoint, but she never defines the why beyond that. I really wanted to go
deeper into that area beyond my own beliefs about how God calls us to value
every human and peek into what she thinks from an academic viewpoint.
Among the enlightening discussions in the book: why
Colorblindness is very dangerous, the stages of racial development, being an
ally, having agency, all followed by very practical language on implementation.
Also, Dr Harvey consistently points to others’ work in these areas and
recommends other reading as follow-up or to go deeper. I appreciated those
recommendations.
If you would like to read the introduction, and see what
other’s are saying, click here.
I was given a second copy of the book to give away – would
you like it? Comment below and then check the box to receive emails from other
comments, OR comment on my Facebook thread. I will choose a winner by random
drawing on March 10 and then mail out the book that week.
