Activity 1.5 | Role of safety for inclusion

Anti-racist Baby: A Personal Story [Audio] 

Listen to the provided audio to hear an early childhood educator's story about their effort to unpack bias and racism by introducing Antiracist Baby by Ibram X. Kendi in their centre, only to face resistance. 

As you listen, reflect on how a similar situation might unfold in your centre: 

Audio Transcript

I recall a time when I introduced a children’s book to the child care team on anti-racism and racism at the centre that I worked at. The book, Anti-racist Baby by Ibram X. Kendi. 

As an educator who wanted to unpack her own biases on race I thought it would be vital to visit this notion with the child care team. Ibram X. Kendi invites people to begin this essential work together. Kendi (2019b) says, “ The only way to undo racism is to consistently identify it and describe it—and then dismantle it” (p.2). I placed the children’s book on the desk in the toddler room office. The senior educator in the toddler centre looked at it and placed the book back down. I approached my colleagues about viewing and discussing the book as a team. The educators shared that this book was not appropriate for this age group of children. In this particular team I did not feel safe to challenge someone's authority. Exploring the idea of racism with toddlers was a new idea and one that was coming to the forefront in child care. It was my hope that we could begin a conversation about racism as a team then share in young children’s lives. I wanted to have conversations  about how we could introduce the book. My feeling once the educators had engaged in a conversation together was to simply put the book on the shelf and see what the children thought about the pictures, the words and the story. As educators we would have begun the first step in learning to be anti-racist along with the children.  

References

Kendi, I.X. & Lukashevsky, A. (2019a). Antiracist Baby. Kokila.

Kendi, I.X. (2019b). How to Be an Antiracist. One World.