TOW #23 - Are We Raising Racists?

On March 14th of 2017, the New York Times published an article written by Jennifer Harvey, an op-ed contributor for the paper, on the ideas of racism in the growing youth of the world. The article comes at a time when racial tensions in the United States are at a seemingly all time high, with supporters of Donald Trump taking his messages to the extreme as seen with alt-right supporting groups. In order to display the effects of these messages on the youth, Harvey utilizes personal anecdotes and uses current world examples. In the opening sentences of her text, Harvey describes her daughter learning about George Washington in her elementary school. However, the school provides a very one dimensional version of history that paints men like Washington as completely peaceful and freedom loving heroes, which truly is not the case. When Harvey told her daughter that many political figures, including Washington, owned slaves, her thoughts changed completely. This is quite significant as it displays the ineffectiveness of education of the youth on historical topics like racism. It is absolutely essential that children are not only taught of the peace and freedom that people once fought for, but it is extremely important that children are also taught of the immense suffering that so many ethnic groups have endured throughout history. To complement the issues of racism within the youth, Harvey also explains the various sources that children are now exposed to. It unfortunately seems to be nearly everyday that news breaks about the vandalism of a Jewish cemetery, the burning of a mosque, or attacks against specific racial groups. With children today being exposed more and more often to these sorts of behaviors, it is possible that they will begin to believe that this is an acceptable form of behavior. For this reason, we cannot allow for these ideas to grow within the most influenceable minds in the world. We must show the youth that ideas of racism are absolutely NOT acceptable. Overall, I do believe that Harvey was able to effectively start a push for this idea as a parent in modern society. I also believe that is of the utmost importance that this message is continually spread.