What Do White Parents Tell Their Children?

On Sunday morning, June 7, 2020, U.S. Attorney General William Barr stated on a national TV news program that he does not believe that the nation’s police force is characterized by systemic racism. That statement echoed sentiments made by other members of President Donald Trump’s administration and led directly to this response.

As parents, do we spell out the words used as racial-ethnic slurs and talk about how painful they are to the objects of that hatred?

As parents, do we talk about making fun of and bullying people who are different in terms of skin color, hair, facial features, sexual orientation, what they wear, where they are from, and religion?

As parents, do we have to tell them that the police force as an institution does not look out for our best interests or our well-being?

As parents, do we lay out in excruciating detail what to do if and when they have an encounter with law enforcement since those interactions can lead to injury or death?

As parents, do we tell our children that death can result from police encounters even when black-brown people who comply with instructions to raise their hands, to not resist, be prone on the ground, begging to take a breath?

Why is it that black parents have to have talks exactly like the ones listed above to be sure their kids survive the world around them and particularly survive police encounters and white parents don’t?

Why is it white parents and other white officials (AG Barr in particular) don’t understand what black parents living in every part of the U.S. are saying out loud and in every kind of public forum about what they have to do to protect their kids from harm at the hands of the police? Are we purposely blind and deaf or do we discredit their testimony, as Barr does, and call them liars?

George Floyd died at the hands of police who were sworn to protect and serve the public. How is it that some Americans can sit back and not be part of changing that horrific reality? Now is the time to act. Either black lives matter in this country or our Constitution is meaningless.