Understand the different experiences your child will have due to their intersectional identity. Their experiences will not mirror those of EITHER parent.

I urge anyone who has a mixed-race family member to check in on them. If you are a parent to a mixed-race child, please acknowledge the responsibility you have. Understand the different experiences your child will have due to their intersectional identity. Their experiences will not mirror those of either parent. Just as it is your responsibility to keep them fed, clothed and healthy, it is your responsibility to educate yourselves on how the issues of race embed themselves deep within the history of the either parents’ lives, experiences, and mentalities. If you are the white parent, you must first learn to acknowledge your white privilege and know your child will never have the same experiences as you. Learn to recognise the racist language and beliefs within your own family, and most importantly yourself, because they do exist. It’s not about people uttering racial slurs, it is the misconceptions you and the people around you have about what it means to be black as well as recognising the flaws in the system which disadvantage those who are not white.

Daniella Brookes, “We Need To Stop Leaving Mixed-Race People Out Of The Race Conversation,” Words of Integrity: Celebrating positivity and embracing the peaks and falls of life. November 25, 2021. https://wordsofintegrity.com/2021/11/25/we-need-to-stop-leaving-mixed-race-people-out-of-the-race-conversation/.

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