I was witness to a kindergarten tour at a public library. A group of students were on tour of the childrens' section. There were kids of many ethnic groups and races. They all held laminated guides to the children's section. They were flapping them around making noise. One child was singled out for a harsh, "Stop that noise!". He was a little black boy. I looked at his chaperone and then she said I'm sorry. The little boy walked away. He appeared to be OK. And I hope that he really was. … [Read more...]
I Maintain Hope
I live in a very racial and culturally diverse Ellicott City neighborhood. I have lived there for ten years now. I see children of different races and cultures play together, families meet together for lawn picnics. Neighbors stop and chat with each other at our cars as we come and go. In my small building of twelve families, we have families from Asia, Africa, Pakistan. My neighbors bring me food from their religious celebrations and explain to me what their beliefs are. These interactions give … [Read more...]
Missing pieces
Every year, local community based Chinese language schools will host lunar new year festivals. The community members are invited to celebrate together. Due to pandemic, the events were canceled 2 years in a row. Hopefully, people can get together and celebrate and share their culture in person soon. … [Read more...]
Racist, Much?
In 2019, the leadership of the Howard County Public School System engaged in planning for redistricting, and I was directly involved in that effort and publicly expressed support for equity-based decisions. Some of my White neighbors -- people who share many of my progressive ideals -- were opposed to the HCPSS proposals for redistricting and argued that their children were going to be heartbroken if the plan was approved. On social media, when I bemoaned some of the awful, racist rhetoric that … [Read more...]
Social Media/White Privilege
I was sent a social media post reacting to the HCPSS high school lesson on white privilege. First came the “what grade level is this?” and “why wasn’t this optional”/”why weren’t parents told?” comments which didn’t really take root. Then the inevitable “white privilege isn’t real” comment was made, eliciting 50+ replies. However, more than half of the replies were people trying to convince the poster that white privilege is real. The initial responses had a “I can’t believe you think white … [Read more...]
Been to China recently?
In March of 2020, I had to go to urgent care for my son. During check-in, the nurse said, "I am sorry, but I have to ask this question: have you or your son been to China recently?" Although we are of Asian descent, I did not take offense to the question, and understood the reasoning for the question. I was encouraged at the empathy the nurse felt towards us in having to ask the question. … [Read more...]
Kids growing in culturally diverse schooling
My grandson is 8. He is half Korean, half white, but looks totally white. He attends elementary school here in Columbia, a school which is half African-American and only 20% white. All his best friends from pre-K to grade 2 have been black. A year or two ago, he told me that when he grows up he wants to be black. We had to explain that that is not possible. I love seeing him playing with his friends and learning about people and cultures different from ours. This gives me hope that children here … [Read more...]
Inclusion Empathy and Understanding
A Howard County citizen heads up a group that teaches kids and teens how to treat other kids, teens and adults using inclusion, empathy and with understanding. The kids and teens are practicing these ideas by inviting into their circle of friends other children and teens who they might not practice their own cultural practices. This is the start of uniting people and getting to know each other on a one to one basis. … [Read more...]
Youth Inclusion
My son had an amazing experience joining an African American church basketball team for two years. As a white boy, he seamlessly integrated into the team. It was so heartwarming to see how they all treated each other with respect, including the parents. It was one of the highlights of his youth. … [Read more...]
Scary Situation
I work in Howard County at the library but I have a story from last year that happened where I live (different county). My son and a friend went to a National Park last year (right before the Pandemic). It was a nice day and they wanted to take a hike and explore history. My sons have grown up going to the parks and love them. They completely got questioned and patted down by a police office. They were accused of having pot. They did not and are completely the best kids. Super friendly, polite … [Read more...]
Hate and Bias in Education
My daughter (8) wore Bantu knots into elementary school. She was ridiculed for having her hair in a culturally appropriate, but uncommon, hairstyle. Within this same school, she has received requests to touch her hair throughout her different hairstyles including natural and braided. Recently she has asked me to straighten her hair (in order to fit in better and be more accepted). … [Read more...]
Sharing Treats
Last week my son and his friends were talking about foods - everything from what kind of ramen noodles to buy at H-Mart to what kind of chocolate to use when making chocolate chip cookies. Then they decided to share with each other. Four of them dropped off at each other's houses a treat. What struck me is how interested they were in each other's cultures/traditions. One Pakistani Muslim family, one Korean family, one white family, and one Chinese family. That's what I like about Howard County- … [Read more...]
Ideal environment
Living in Howard County I noticed this is a very diverse community. I see children of different races playing together. In my neighborhood, there are multiracial families and a diverse racial representation. To me, this is the ideal environment for my kids to grow up in. … [Read more...]
Starting the conversation
My 10-year-old niece, who is white (as am I), was telling me a story of something that happened to her, and referred to someone in the story as "a man who had dark skin." I waited until she was done, and then asked her why she referred to that man as having dark skin instead of just saying that he was black. She said that she felt bad referring to someone as black, because she didn't want anyone to think she was racist. She also wasn't sure if he was African-American, and Islander, etc., and … [Read more...]
Another story
Another story: I Don't Tell People I'm Chinese Anymore As the rates of Asian American hate crime cases started going up, and I witnessed how my community members were reacting to it, several Asian Based shops got vandalized. My dad sat me and my little brother down and told us not to tell people I'm Chinese anymore, as if we already didn't know that. … [Read more...]
Suburbs and Segregation
This weekend my family went to Western Regional Park. We probably saw 200 people - not one African American. Made me upset at the history that underlies that of hate and risk in that area. Made me upset at how much we accept segregated space in our county and our country. Made me worry that people had chosen to live in that space in part for segregation - and made me concerned about how we can make more racial equity real in our county if many of our residents choose where they are to be away … [Read more...]
I Read It in a Book
During a Battle of the Books team meeting with my daughter, we were discussing excerpts from Kekla Magoon's, The Season of Styx Malone. One of the white students couldn't believe that a parent would ever encourage their child to be ordinary and just keep their head down. The family in question is black. We then went on to discuss how the parent was trying to keep his black sons safe. It gave me so much hope to know that we can raise our white children to really see, advocate for, and amplify the … [Read more...]
