Addressing Systemic Racism Today Can Change Our Children’s World

In 2019, more than 1,300 central Indiana community members attended a Child Advocates Interrupting Racism for Children two-day workshop with the goal of not only understanding their implicit bias but also how to take action to stop racism in its tracks. Over the course of a decade, roughly 8,000 people have participated in these workshops. Although that number may seem impressive, it’s evident that these efforts simply are not enough to truly create an anti-racist community.

As we are all very aware by now, this week’s media attention has turned to George Floyd, a black man, being senselessly murdered, despite his pleas for help, by a white police officer in Minneapolis. We saw Amy Cooper, a white woman, using the threat of law enforcement to intimidate Christian Cooper, a black man, in Central Park.  Racism is alive and well throughout our entire country and, despite our best efforts, we must recognize that it also exists right here in Indianapolis. Last week’s and last month’s local news headlines may have vanished, but the racial injustices that caused them, unfortunately, did not.

At Child Advocates, we believe it is imperative to work toward an anti-racist community for all children. As leaders for children and for anti-racist organizations, we have a job to do to dismantle systemic racism, especially for our children’s sake – but we cannot do it alone. Our workshops will resume in the community once we can gather safely together again. Until then, here are a few things we all can do:

• Look within to understand your own biases regarding race.
• Have difficult conversations about racism with your children, friends and family.
• Use your voice on social media to take a stand against racism.
• Support organizations that are working to combat racism.

If you have questions or would like to learn more about what you can do to interrupt racism in your home, workplace and community, please reach out to us directly. Please email Jill English, Director of Interrupting Racism for Children, with questions or to learn more.