But we somehow ignored children from multiracial and multiethnic homes. Almost all education books, lists of children's books, articles, training materials, and diversity resources still use the five traditional racial/ethnic categories -- totally omitting multiethnic and multiracial children. A few years ago the editor of the National Head Start Association journal, Children and Families, told me they were devoting an issue to diversity. I casually asked her how they would address the needs of multiracial and multiethnic families, particularly since there are many in Head Start. She responded, "Nobody thought about that!" (They did let me add a little piece [Wardle, 1999]).
Most of the inquiries I receive from parents of young multiracial and multiethnic children concern the insensitivity of schools and early childhood programs to their family's unique needs and struggles and the lack of information these institutions have regarding their families. These parents ask where they can find materials to assist them in raising their children, and to help teachers be more sensitive to their children's needs. These families desperately need programs in which they feel they belong and that support their sincere efforts to raise healthy children.
NAEYC executive director Mark Ginsberg (2001) points out in a column this nation is becoming ever more diverse. The 2000 census allowed people to register their identification with more than one heritage, and more than 6.8 million did so. Many of these were families with young children. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, the number of multiracial babies born since the 1970s has increased more than 260%, compared to a 15% of single race babies. More than one million first generation biracial babies were born since 1989 (Root, 1996). Clearly, as Ginsberg states, we must build our organization and our field, "to serve all children and families" (2001, 53).
2. Staff assist these children in integrating their diverse and complex heritage into a unified, healthy self-esteem and identity.
3. Activities and curricular approaches never require a child to isolate part of their background over another part.
4. These children have a label (multiracial, biracial, mixed) to use to identify themselves and to respond to single-race children and adults.
5. A positive climate that supports their parents' choice to cross societal barriers, and no one (staff, parents, children) is allowed to question their parents' motivation.
6. Staff provide support, accurate information, and resources to help multiracial/multiethnic parents raise their children (Wardle 1999).
Many people committed to equity and justice believe professionals in our communities need to work harder to change society so that it better fits the needs of individuals, rather than expecting people to adapt to a dysfunctional society (Corey and Corey 1998). This includes changing a society fixated on a single-race approach for categorizing its population, and requires supporting the empowerment of multiethnic and multiracial families to raise their children as they choose.
Professionals committed to principles of equity and justice often follow the ideas, agendas, and leadership of those less empowered (Carter 2001).This makes a lot of sense. We should consult with interracial and interethnic families and seek advice and leadership from people in our field involved in these relationships. We must find ways to enable our field to empower and serve all children and families.
2. Include a multiracial/multiethnic category in any listing multicultural resources -- books, children's books, classroom materials, training materials, curricula, and so on.
3. View children and people as individuals with characteristics that include racial and ethnic diversity, rather than looking at people as products of single race/ethnic reference groups.
4. Support the development of a multiracial category on future census forms and immediately implementing the census approach when collecting government statistical data.
5. Include multiracial/multiethnic children and families in all diversity activities and training: college courses, conferences, inservice training, antibias activities, and curriculum content analysis.
6. Include multiracial/multiethnic children and parents in all NAEYC position papers, training standards, accreditation guidelines, and other projects that address culture, diversity and identity.
Books for Children
Magazines
Web sites
References
This essay originally appeared in the November 2001 edition of Young Children, published by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. We reprint it with their permission.
In 1989, NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) joined an ever more active movement dedicated to serve children from diverse families, by publishing Anti-Bias Curriculum: Tools for Empowering Young Children (Derman-Sparks & the A.B.C. Task Force) This movement, known as multicultural or anti-bias education, developed out of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, the Women's movement, and the passage of the revised Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. As a result, scores of books, training sessions, university classes, multicultural conferences, state diversity standards, and university graduation requirements sprang up throughout the country. And the early childhood community became a leader in helping children previously under served by our programs -- minorities, children with disabilities, those who don't speak English at home, girls, and poor children -- have increased opportunity to succeed.To serve all children and families, our programs must be in places in which:
1. Multiracial and multiethnic children see themselves and their families in books, curricular content, materials, artwork, posters, and doll and people sets. They also need multiracial/multiethnic heroes.Ideas for Empowering and Serving All Children and Families
1. Develop and purchase books, classroom materials, curricula, and training programs that address the cultural and ethnic history and unique needs of these children and families.Conclusion
Multiracial and multiethnic children deserve our support in challenging a society that doesn't understand them and in many cases does not accept their parents' relationship. I want my field to be a leader in meeting the needs of these families, just as we have in so many other equity and justice causes.Resources
Books for adults
Francis Wardle, Ph.D. is executive director of the Center for the Study of Biracial Children in Denver, and author of the book, "Tomorrow's Children: Meeting the Needs of Multiracial and Multiethnic Children at Home, in Early Childhood Programs, and at School" -- available from the center.
Then there's...
A growing multiracial movement struggles to redefine race
An IV interview from the pre-Internet days
 |
 |
©2001 all rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part prohibited without
the express written consent of Interracial Voice.