by Anti-Racist Parent columnist Dawn Friedman
When we decided to pursue a domestic adoption nearly five years ago, my husband and I – both of us white – decided that we were open to adopting transracially. We were naïve about this – we really didn’t understand the challenges for children adopted transracially – but when we […]

by Anti-Racist Parent columnist Dawn Friedman
We are a transracial family. My husband, my son and myself are white. Our daughter is African-American and joined our family through an open, domestic adoption three years ago. Both my kids are being raised in my Jewish faith in that their formal religious education is happening at our synagogue. […]

by Anti-Racist Parent columnist Dawn Friedman
Recently I wrote on my blog about trying to find an African American Polly Pocket for my 3-year old daughter. My efforts were only slightly successful – I did find a brown-skinned Polly, kind of. But she could more easily stand in for a white girl with an olive complexion. […]

by Anti-Racist Parent columnist Dawn Friedman
By now you may have read the article about Tintin in the Congo – the racist children’s book that’s being shelved in the (adult) graphic novel section after a lawyer registered a complaint saying, “I was utterly astonished and aghast to see page after page of representations of black African […]

by Anti-Racist Parent columnist Dawn Friedman
Before I had my kids I worked for a feminist organization that had the elimination of racism written into their institutional purpose. The YWCA’s mission statement ends with this line:
The YWCA will thrust its collective power toward the elimination of racism, wherever it exists, and by any means necessary.
I worked […]

by Anti-Racist Parent columnist Dawn Friedman
I was stuck on what to write this week but Carmen shared a list of some of the keywords people use to find their way here and there was one that stuck out to me: “naming adopted children”
I wrote an essay for Adoptive Families about (not) naming Madison that came […]

by Anti-Racist Parent columnist Dawn Friedman
One of the first things I learned when my husband and I, both white people, began to explore adopting a child of African descent is that there would be a major curve for us to get educated about caring for a texture of hair unfamiliar to us. At the […]

by Anti-Racist Parent columnist Dawn Friedman

Imagine if all the books about girls were about sexism. Imagine if female characters were generally there to give the reader a history lesson about suffragettes or a cultural critique about rape. What would that do to a little girl? To only see herself against the backdrop of oppression? What would that do to a little boy? To only see women in the context of the oppressed? Fortunately there are lots of interesting female role models to keep both boys and girls reading – girls like Ramona, Nancy Drew and Anastasia Krupnik – but imagine if there weren’t.

Now think about kids’ chapter books where the main character isn’t white. Think hard. Is there a black Ramona or an Asian Nancy Drew or a Latina Anastasia?

Unfortunately, it’s difficult to find books about children of color that don’t make the kids’ color the point of the story. There just aren’t enough books about everyday kids doing everyday things where the kids happen to be African American or Chinese-American or Native American or Hispanic, etc. etc. There are many fine, laudable books (and many absolutely awful ones) about slavery and Civil Rights and the Japanese internment camps and migrant farm workers from Mexico but the ordinary kid? The one who is riding her bike or fighting with his little sister? That’s a lot tougher.

by Anti-Racist Parent columnist Dawn Friedman
I was looking at the archives of the gratuitous cute kid pics, (which really are pretty darn cute) and I was wondering where are the cute kids from white families? From looking at the gratuitous cute kid tag, you’d think the prerequisite of being anti-racist is having a non-white […]

by Anti-Racist Parent columnist Dawn Friedman
When I was pregnant with my son my husband and I had no idea if we were expecting a boy or a girl. Our doctor didn’t do routine ultrasounds and when my husband asked, “But then how will we know what we’re having?” She answered, “You’ll just have to wait […]