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Often children are not given a platform and space to talk about race and how it affects them. It is important that we support kids in sharing their experiences and voices speaking up about their experiences with race and racism. With support and guidance, white children can become confident in talking about their experiences with race, whiteness, power, and their relationship to the racial inequities they notice around them.
In 2015, the United States saw high-profile police shootings plus the deadly attack on a black church in South Carolina. During this time, middle school teachers told WNYC their classrooms were abuzz with personal and sometimes difficult conversations. And they didn’t always feel prepared to handle what came up. In WNYC’s Being 12 series, we explore the topic of talking about race and racism to children in the pre-teenage years. In this video, we hear directly from the students. They answer the question “who am I?”
Jennifer Hsu is a senior producer at WNYC. She is the creator of the Know Your Neighbor video series, which won a New York Press Club Award. She’s covered renovations at the United Nations, an elite unit of the NYPD, and a summer camp for smartphone detox. Her work on the series “On the Brink,” about falling out of the middle class into poverty, won a Front Page Award. In 2010, she was chosen as a USC Annenberg/Getty Arts Journalism Fellow. Before coming to WNYC, she was a senior multimedia editor at Rolling Stone. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and daughter. Follow her on Twitter @jennhsu
WNYC, New York Public Radio is New WNYC, New York Public Radio is New York’s flagship public radio station. It’s the home of award-winning local and national programming, including On The Media, The Brian Lehrer Show, The Leonard Lopate Show, Soundcheck, Radiolab, Radio Rookies, It’s A Free Country, Fishko Files and more.York’s flagship public radio station. It’s the home of award-winning local and national programming, including On The Media, The Brian Lehrer Show, The Leonard Lopate Show, Soundcheck, Radiolab, Radio Rookies, It’s A Free Country, Fishko Files and more.
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