Racial bias is a hugely complex subject and linked closely with issues of language, culture and faith, which will be looked at in more detail in future articles in this series. Racism damages all children, regardless of skin colour and ethnicity, although it does it in different ways. Some children and their families from black and other minority ethnic groups are greatly disadvantaged by discrimination. For them, racism is hurtful and sometimes even life-threatening. It may damage their self-identity and make them believe that they are seen as inferior outside their homes. This 'internalised oppression' (see Equality and Diversity, Part 1, 24 September 2009) can affect their behaviour, confidence and motivation and interfere with their ability to learn. It can affect their life chances and the choices they are able to make. It is important that they learn that racism is not their fault and that they didn't do anything to cause it.
Racism also damages white children, as it reinforces wrong notions of superiority. This 'internalised superiority' in its strongest form can ultimately lead them to think that black people and others are less human than themselves. It can blunt their sensitivity towards other people and distort their perceptions of reality (for example, 'you have to be white to be British'), because it doesn't allow them to make their own judgements based on true facts. It also interferes with their ability to empathise, which is fundamental if children are to be able to respect and value one another. This is why it is just as important for settings in 'all-white' areas to consider these issues and ensure that they are not unintentionally confirming these distorted perceptions.
Difference
Research suggests that from around the age of two, children are aware of physical variations and from as early as two and a half, they may show signs of 'pre-prejudice' or discomfort with physical differences. At around three, children may well ask how they got their skin, hair and eye colour. They will wonder if these remain the same throughout life. They will recognise differences in skin tone and wonder why terms such as 'black' and 'white' are used to describe shades of brown and pink.
The problem is not that children notice differences but that in our society, some differences are valued as positive and others as negative. It is worrying to find research evidence suggesting that at around the age of four, children from minority ethnic groups may start to express unhappiness with their appearance as they realise that being white is given greater value.
At the same age, white children may begin to express negative and discriminatory views about skin colour and appearance. Persona dolls (and accompanying training support) provide a particularly effective way to implement anti-bias work and to help children 'unlearn' biased attitudes.
Institutionalised racism
We also have to recognise that racism is not just something that white people do to black people. We can all be prejudiced, and someone who has experienced discrimination can themselves be bigoted about someone from another group. Prejudice and bias also occurs within groups. 'Xenoracism' describes the discrimination experienced by some white people, for example, Irish and Jewish people.
But not everyone who is prejudiced has 'institutional power', which is why racism is sometimes defined as 'prejudice plus power'. Inequalities in society stem from this power, and people whose lifestyles are outside the perceived norm (for example, Travellers) also experience this inequality.
Jane Lane writes about institutionalised bias and its impact on early years provision. She says 'very few people working with young children would deliberately discriminate against children because they are from a black or other minority ethnic group.' But she goes on to acknowledge that institutional racism occurs when people carry on doing what they have always done, purely because they 'have not had the opportunity or the concern to think about the issues involved.'
As practitioners working with young children and their families, we have a professional responsibility to make sure we don't perpetuate institutional bias by doing nothing about it.
Home and away
In the past, attempts to reflect diversity in the curriculum have sometimes led to a 'touristic' approach, with festivals and artefacts being used in a tokenistic way. All of us living in Britain today are part of a diverse society and it is vital that we help children to see that diversity of lifestyle, language and religion isn't just about what 'other' people do in faraway places.
And yet 'Britishness' and the supposed need to reassert a sense of British culture, citizenship and values can appear to be at odds with an unbiased approach to racial diversity, linked as it often is with far-right political views and concerns about immigration. However, it is perfectly possible to appreciate and share pride in what it means to be British while being a member of other groups and 'cultures' as well. It is increasingly important, then, that we recognise national, local and socio-economic 'cultures' - the ties that bind us all together, as well as those that set us apart.
Furthermore, if we recognise the need that we all have to identify ourselves as valued members of society, then we can maybe begin to acknowledge what it might feel like to be, say, a white teenage boy living in a deprived inner-city area with few prospects and no sense of cultural identity.
Researchers Fein and Spenser discovered in the 1990s that when someone with poor self-esteem is kept sufficiently stressed, then they are increasingly likely to behave in a biased and prejudicial way towards others. It literally becomes a matter of survival, as anything outside their experience and understanding is seen as a threat to their own precarious sense of well-being.
For 'community cohesion' to become a real possibility, we need to be open-minded about the impact that social and economic 'class' structures can have on cultural identity and the emotional well-being of individuals. As practitioners working on a daily basis with families of all kinds, we have a significant role to play in supporting children to develop strong, secure attachments if they are to grow to be confident, resilient young adults, able to thrive in a diverse society in economically challenging times.
Colour blind
Children are actually very good at recognising difference - and at talking about it. It is adults who find it difficult. Recent research in the US has explored the fact that most white adults prefer not to mention skin colour when describing someone. This is referred to as 'strategic colour blindness' and develops out of an anxiety about causing offence or being seen as racist.
The sad fact is that this reticence merely reinforces the sense that there is something inherently negative about skin that isn't 'white'. The research went on to suggest that very young children were comfortable asking questions or talking about skin colour, but soon absorbed the adult discomfort and changed their behaviour accordingly. This is one of the ways in which adults unwittingly perpetuate racial bias.
When children ask tricky questions or pass comments, don't ignore it, change the subject or answer indirectly. Take time to respond properly and in a way that is developmentally appropriate to the child. Sometimes you might need to admit you don't know something but that together you can find out. Think in advance of the sort of questions you find difficult or awkward to answer. Talk with colleagues and parents and explore good ways of responding.
Make sure all your resources, from puzzles to small-world figures, expose children to the wide variety of human skin tone.
- Provide paints, crayons, etc in the full range of flesh tones. Use the colours to paint wooden blocks and playdough as well as for drawing and painting.
- Make ice cubes with flesh-toned paints and mix them together as they melt.
- Make hand templates of all skin tones, laminate them and connect them together on a key ring. Play games matching them to people's hands or faces.
- The more children develop positive associations with dark colours, the greater the likelihood that this attitude will be generalised to people.
- Make the most of opportunities to be positive about dark tones and to challenge negative associations. For example, make angels and fairy costumes in rich dark colours and dress witches in pink!
- Provide coloured paper other than white for drawing on. This prompts all children to colour in faces/skin tones and to search for appropriate colours.
- Answer black or brown when asked for your favourite colour!
ASK YOURSELF ...
About your attitudes
- Talking about sensitive issues is easier if you have first established your shared values as a team. What do you need to do to ensure that you have common understandings and goals?
- How do you identify training needs?
- How well do you feel able to stand out against institutionalised racism on behalf of children/families/colleagues or yourself? What support do you need?
- How do you support colleagues resistant or defensive about their racial beliefs?
- What guidance do you give colleagues or parents whose racist attitudes or actions are unwitting and well-intentioned?
- What steps need to be taken to ensure racial and ethnic diversity of your workforce/governing body/advisory board and parents' groups?
- What do you know about the communities in your area and further afield? What links can you make to promote community cohesion?
- Do you make sure that everyone coming into your setting feels welcomed and valued? How do you know this?
- How do you build self-esteem and resilience in all children so that they do not feel the need to bully or diminish others, and have the resilience to deal with such behaviour towards them?
- How do you develop self-confidence in children so that they can recognise bias or injustice and will be able to speak out against it, on their own, or with others?
- What ways have you found to respond to racist or biased comments that don't diminish the self-esteem of the speaker?
- How well do you challenge yourself to role-model positive reactions to things that challenge your world view?
ASK YOURSELF ...
About the enabling environment
- Do you explore a range of festivals, cultural events and traditions in a way that doesn't present them as 'exotic' and belonging only to 'other people'?
- How well do you ensure that the images, books and resources in your setting reflect the diverse nature of society?
- Do your resources project a balanced image of people living in other parts of the world, i.e. not everyone in India is poor; people in Africa don't only live in huts.
- Support children in how to use unfamiliar role-play items and clothes. Ask parents or other reliable sources for guidance.
- Take care that unfamiliar artefacts are treated with care and respect and that black dolls are loved and cared for.
REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING
- Lane, Jane (2008) Young Children and Racial Justice: Taking action for racial equality in the early years. National Children's Bureau
- Brown, B (2007) Unlearning Discrimination in the Early Years. Trentham Books
- www.persona-doll-training.org
- 'Seeing Race and Seeming Racist? Evaluating Strategic Colorblindness in Social Interaction', Evan P Apfelbaum, PhD candidate, and Samuel R Sommers, PhD, Tufts University; Michael Norton, PhD, Harvard Business School; Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol 95, no 4
- Fein, S and Spenser, S J (1997) 'Prejudice as Self-image Maintenance: Affirming the self through derogating others'. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 73, p31-34
- See also 'Further Reading', Equality and Diversity, Part 1, 24 September 2009
- Don't let children assume that all characters in stories are 'white British' in appearance unless stated otherwise. For example, adapt stories subtly now and again to include references to long braids, curly hair, beautiful dark skin, dark eyes and so on.
KEEP TALKING
Just finding the right words when talking about race can be difficult, because language is constantly changing and developing. Words and phrases can subtly change their meaning or their inference so that those that were once commonly used become unacceptable.
To add to the confusion, words are sometimes 'reclaimed' at a later date, possibly because attitudes have shifted, or by particular groups for their own use. This can make people wary of discussion, for fear of being 'wrong' or causing offence. The reality is that we may never arrive at agreed terms, so the best thing is to:
- keep talking and reflecting on the words that we hear and use
- think more about courtesy than about political correctness - how would you feel if a word or phrase were used to describe, or hurt you?
- don't keep quiet for fear of making a mistake. Be open to what others can teach you and to learning from the mistakes you will inevitably make.
TERMS
Jane Lane's Young Children and Racial Justice provides a useful list of terms and explanations which include:
Racism: 'all those practices and procedures that, both historically and in the present, disadvantage and discriminate against people because of their skin colour, ethnicity, culture, religion, nationality or language'
Ethnicity: 'an individual's identification with a group sharing some or all of the same culture, lifestyle, language, religion, nationality, geographical region and history. Every person has an ethnicity. Concepts of "ethnic food", "ethnic dress", "ethnic music" are therefore nonsense'
Black: 'people who are discriminated against because of their skin colour. These words are usually used as political terms, to unite the people who are discriminated against. Some people use the term Black to refer specifically to African-Caribbean or African origin'
White: 'this is again a political term. It refers to people who are not 'black' and are usually, but not always of European origin, whose skin colour or tone is light'