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Your Parenting Mojo’s Anti-Racist Policies

Your Parenting Mojo supports all people of different races and backgrounds. We have collaborated with a racially diverse group of listeners and an expert consultant to form anti-racist policies that will be followed all throughout the activities and content of Your Parenting Mojo. We provide resources and create a community where all parents feel they belong. We also provide these resources for parents to make our world more equitable than it is today, and raise children who continue this work as well.

We strive to dismantle privileges of white supremacy, colonization, patriarchy, and other oppressive ideologies that have created a culture of exclusion at the expense of others. We are passionate about being inclusive and celebratory of all races, ethnicities, gender identities, sexual orientations, nationalities, cultures, religions, socio-economic statuses, physical abilities, neuro-diversities, ages, body sizes, family structures, housing situation, and education levels.

The following are Your Parenting Mojo’s Anti-Racist Policies. We also invite you to review these policies and share your thoughts, or report to us on areas where you think we may have departed from them.
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Anti-Racist Policy Reporting Form
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2021-22 Progress Report
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2022-23 Progress Report
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2024-25 Progress Report

Topic Area: (A) Terminology

Policy #1

The following words will be used to describe race:

  1. Black will be used to describe the experiences of Black people generally, in locations not limited to the United States.
  2. African American may be used when this term is used in published research, and where it describes the experiences of Black people in the United States.
  3. Latino/a ("Latino" in spoken formats) will be used as a substitute for Hispanic, as these are now used interchangeably by the U.S. Census Bureau and Latino is preferred by Latino/a people living in the United States.
  4. All groups will be referred to in the most specific way possible (e.g. don't say "Asian" when reporting results of a study carried out in Japan)
  5. Older terminology that is currently considered offensive will not be used except where the words are used in direct citations/names of organizations and no other option is available.

This policy allows us to refer to people using terms that are relevant to research while also respectful of the groups that the words describe.

Latinx is currently preferred by some (mostly younger) Latinos and we may shift to using Latinx in the future, but at the moment Latinx is neither known nor used by the majority of Latinos in the U.S. (where most of the Your Parenting Mojo audience resides).
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Policy #1.1

The words Black and White will be capitalized when referring to race.


This topic is still being debated among linguists, sociologists, and others. For proponents of capitalizing black, there are grammatical reasons — it is a proper noun, referring to a specific group of people with a shared political identity, shaped by colonialism and slavery. But some see it as a moral issue as well.

It confers a sense of power and respect to Black people, who have often been relegated to the lowest rungs of society through racist systems, Black scholars say.

For this reason of conferring additional power and respect I have not historically capitalized White, but in acknowledgement that both Black and White are social constructs I will now capitalize both. You may encounter departures from this policy in materials produced before May 2021.
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Policy #1.2

The term Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) will be used to refer to a group of people whose members do not identify as White.


I will begin using the term Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) in place of the not-widely-used term "People of Non-Dominant Cultures" that I've used historically, to align more closely to common usage and to make my language usage more direct
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Policy #1.3

When referring to indigenous peoples, use their community preferred racial and tribal names. Use "Indigenous", "Native American", and "First Nations" except where citing the word "Indian" (e.g. the National Assessment of Educational Progress uses "American Indian/Alaska Native). Cite the individual tribe/band's name where known and where information refers explicitly to the people who are members of that tribe/band.


Using preferred racial and tribal names denotes respect for people. Departures from the use of preferred racial and tribal names will only occur in citations.
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Policy #1.4

Your Parenting Mojo will use language preferred by the groups being described. This includes phrasing such as 'people who were enslaved' rather than 'slaves,' to indicate that their status as slaves was not their primary identity.

Following the Commonwealth Disabled People's Forum, we use 'disabled people’ rather than ‘persons with disabilities’, to describe people "with long term physical, psycho-social or mental impairments who are disabled by the barriers in environment, organisation and attitude that in interaction with [their] impairments lead to the denial of [their] full human rights and [their] disablement.” The phrasing 'disabled people' emphasises that people with impairments are disabled by barriers in society and aligns with the Social Model of Disability. It places the onus on society to remove disabling barriers and be fully inclusive of people who have impairments.


The usage of 'people who were enslaved' avoids the implication that the characteristic being discussed is central to the person's identity. The phrasing 'disabled people' emphasizes that people with impairments are disabled by barriers in society and aligns with the Social Model of Disability. It places the onus on society to remove disabling barriers and be fully inclusive of people who have impairments.
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Policy #1.5

The following terms will not be used anywhere in Your Parenting Mojo's podcast or business:

  1. Grandfather
  2. Tribe (when referring to anything other than a tribe of Indigenous people, i.e. Your Parenting Mojo will not describe its community as a "tribe").
  3. Gyp/gypped
  4. Pow wow
  5. Blacklist/whitelist; blackball; black mark
  6. Cakewalk

This list is not intended to be a complete list of terms in common usage with origins in racist ideas, but rather those that are most likely to come up given the scope of the podcast and business.  You may encounter departures from this policy in materials produced before June 2021.  Please use the form on this page (link to anti-racist policy reporting form) to make any suggestions you might have for terms to add to this list.


"Part of embedding anti-racism into business practices involves not using words with racist origins. This list will be added to if/when more terms are identified, and as culture shifts to make new terms less preferred. Please note that this list does not attempt to define all words that have racist origins, but focuses on ones that could potentially be used in a podcast on parenting/child development and/or a business.

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Policy #1.6

Your Parenting Mojo will present ideas and concepts in ways that inform the audience of their meaning by using clear language. Professional jargon, acronyms and special terms will be avoided whenever possible. When there is no way to express an idea except to use technical language, the term will be defined. Your Parenting Mojo will also ensure to keep definitions to a minimum to support the ongoing use of clear language.


Jargon can be useful but is also deeply alienating, exclusive, and elitist. Because not every one of us shares the same background and experiences, it's important to avoid using language and terms that may alienate certain people or groups.
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Policy #1.7

Your Parenting Mojo welcomes and supports people of all backgrounds and identities, including but not limited to members of any race, ethnicity, culture, national origin, color, immigration status, social and economic class, educational level, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, age, size, family status and structure, housing situation, political belief, religion, language use, health status, body size, and mental and physical ability (including neurodiversity) and education level.

Your Parenting Mojo will use inclusive language whenever possible, and will encourage others to use the same in Your Parenting Mojo's communities. This means referring to "parents" and "caregivers" instead of "Moms" and "Dads" most of the time, not assuming a person's gender identity, sexuality, or relationship status, and not using terms that people who identify within these groups find problematic.

We recognize that white supremacy, colonization, patriarchy, and other oppressional ideologies have created a culture of exclusion that privileges some at the expense of others. We strive to dismantle the privileges of the beneficiaries and their imposed barriers on the historically and systematically marginalized.


Your Parenting Mojo recognizes that people from a wide variety of backgrounds listen to the podcast and consume paid resources, and that all people have a right to feel welcome. While it is not possible to remove all references to "Mom" and "Dad," these terms will not generally be used unless there's a specific reason for it. We also encourage people in our communities not to preface posts with "Mamas...", which excludes individuals who do not identify in this way.
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Policy #1.8

Your Parenting Mojo will continuously be open to input regarding terminology and terms used and will stop using terms that become problematic when necessary.


As new terms are developed it is necessary to be open to input from the community they refer to as to the appropriateness of the term, as at times terms to describe people are often imposed on to them.
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Topic Area: (B) Diversity in Ideas (in the podcast)

Policy #2.1

When seeking guests to speak on the podcast or interact with paid members, Your Parenting Mojo will first seek out BIPOC guests whose message is aligned with Your Parenting Mojo's approach. If none can be found, White women will be considered; if none can be found White men will be invited.

Given Your Parenting Mojo's location in the U.S., and use of the English language, and that a great deal of scholarship in English occurs in former British colonies and Europe, the podcast often presents U.S.-based perspectives which may not be relevant to all audiences. Your Parenting Mojo will aim to broaden this perspective by setting a goal of having 50% of the guests on the show be BIPOC in calendar year 2021, with at least two guests outside of the U.S. and Canada.


Academia is a notoriously White- and male-dominated field. 53% of full Professors identify as White males, and another 27% as White females, for a total of 80% of full Professors identifying as White. There is marginally more diversity at lower levels, with 73% of Assistant Professors identifying as White, and 39% of these are White females. When I seek the world's expert in a particular topic, that is usually a full Professor who has been studying the topic for decades, and is thus more likely to be a White male than a female or BIPOC professor.

To bring a diversity of perspectives and experiences to listeners and members, Your Parenting Mojo considers potential guests by first seeking BIPOC academics whose work aligns with the show's vision and mission, and then White women, and then White men.
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Policy #2.2

Your Parenting Mojo will continue to critique the bias that is baked into peer-reviewed research so listeners can understand the relevance of the research results to their lives, including in-person with researchers where possible. Your Parenting Mojo will, where possible, expose the paradigms that underpin the research and that are accepted by the researchers without question.


Your Parenting Mojo has always looked to understand the ways that bias (e.g. in study design, sampling method, questions asked/tests used, method of analysis, and reporting of results) impacts the conclusions, which are then usually extrapolated as if they were applicable to all of humankind, and will continue to do this. As Jen's knowledge deepens, she will increasingly call into question the entire paradigm within which research sits (e.g. research on toddler compliance assumes that parents know the right things to do and ways to do them, and focus on getting toddlers to do what they're told) to help listeners understand whether the research supports their values. Jen's ability to do this will be limited by her knowledge and experience, and as such will evolve as her own learning evolves.
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Policy #2.3

Your Parenting Mojo has always used scientific research to enhance our understanding of parenting and child development. We aim to use science as a tool, without promoting it above other ways of knowing the world (e.g. Indigenous knowledge).


Science is an important tool for understanding the world, but it has limitations - and these limitations are more dangerous because they are largely unseen and unacknowledged. As we use science and recognize its limitations, we will also elevate and use other ways of knowing the world.
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Policy #2.4

Your Parenting Mojo will look critically at the concept of Whiteness, both as it affects topics related to parenting and child development, as well as Jen's own role as the interpreter of the research.


There is always a danger, as a White woman interpreting research conducted primarily by White professors for a White audience, that Jen will fail to see how Whiteness impacts the design, conduct, analysis, promotion, and use of scientific research. To the extent that a person who is embedded in (and a recipient of privilege related to being a member of) the culture of White supremacy in the United States, Jen will aim to view Whiteness critically, always aiming to understand how Whiteness impacts the research and interpretation of that research and working to dismantle systems of White supremacy.
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Topic Area: (C) Business Practices

Policy #3.0

Moving forward, Your Parenting Mojo will offer sliding scale pricing for all products, except where doing so is cost prohibitive to Your Parenting Mojo (e.g. a low-cost product where the transaction costs would exceed the revenue generated if sliding scale were used).


Sliding scale pricing has two main benefits: it allows people with fewer financial means to use Your Parenting Mojo's paid resources, and it provides an opportunity for individuals who identify as BIPOC to use a lower sliding scale amount to 'correct past and ongoing wrongs.' BIPOC are invited to use the lower end of the sliding scale if they want or need to, or the upper end if they don't.
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Policy #3.1

When selecting stock photos to feature in public-facing and member-facing forums (blog posts/podcast episodes, social media, discussion posts in communities), Your Parenting Mojo will actively seek out images of BIPOC people. BIPOC will never be depicted in compromising situations (e.g. looking angry). Your Parenting Mojo will attempt to choose images that are diverse and inclusive, and push against the common default images of primarily White people who are typically young, attractive, straight, and non-disabled.


Selecting photos in a deliberate and thoughtful way makes Your Parenting Mojo more inclusive and equitable. The photos we see in the media have defined the standards of who and what is supposedly good, normal, and valuable. These photos have historically not been inclusive of everyone due to biases, prejudices, and stereotypes that have been passed down for generations. White people are most often depicted as the “main” characters, with minorities, underrepresented groups, disabled people, and sometimes women, shown as supporting characters. These images are not representative of everyone; they help preserve the status quo and are problematic because they perpetuate the inequalities of society. Stock photo galleries primarily feature images of White people (e.g. a search for "ideas" will primarily feature White people having ideas), so we must proactively search for images of BIPOC to redress this balance.
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Policy #3.2

Your Parenting Mojo will purchase goods and services from BIPOC-owned businesses and support BIPOC entrepreneurs. Your Parenting Mojo will commit a minimum of 25% of its annual purchase of goods and services to that of BIPOC-owned businesses and support BIPOC entrepreneurs through purchases and promotion of their goods and services.


Your Parenting Mojo recognizes that how we spend our money is a form of voting on which companies are successful and which ones are not. By purchasing from BIPOC-owned businesses, Your Parenting Mojo is engaging in anti-racism and is actively supporting building wealth within BIPOC communities in efforts of righting past and ongoing wrongs.
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Policy #3.3

Your Parenting Mojo is an equal opportunity employer.  All applicants will be considered for employment without discrimnation based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran, or disability status. A policy regarding anti-discimination in hiring will be included in all subcontractor contracts.

We take affirmative action to ensure equal opportunity for all applicants and will not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, or other legally protected characteristics. Your Parenting Mojo is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities.


Your Parenting Mojo does not currently have any direct employees and does not have any plans to hire any in the foreseeable future. Should we hire direct employees we would be governed by the laws of the State of California which does not permit discrimination in hiring, and would need to add other policies related to anti-racism and anti-harrassment in employment.
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Topic Area: (D) Interactions with Others

Policy #4.0

Despite Your Parenting Mojo's best efforts, Jen's status as a White woman who is in the process of learning about her privilege and deconstructing White supremacy means that mistakes will occasionally be made - either a statement in the podcast or a community won't live up to the letter or spirit of these policies, or the need for a policy will have been overlooked. When this occurs, the following process will be followed:

  1. When alerted to an error, Your Parenting Mojo will promptly and confidentially work with the person who raised the issue and conduct research as needed to fully understand its implications, and determine the need for a correction and/or repair. Corrections may be made as suggested, or drafted by Your Parenting Mojo in the absence of suggestions.
  2. Your Parenting Mojo will take full responsibility for any errors made in violation of these anti-racist policies. Repairs may include the statement of a public and/or private apology, an expression of gratitude for the feedback, and/or an offer of amends.
  3. Anyone may raise an issue that should be considered using the form on this page (link to anti-racist policy reporting form). Use of this form (rather than other contact methods) will enable Your Parenting Mojo to more accurately track statistics about the number of incidences raised.

It is not possible to fully anticipate all of the ways in which a White woman may cause offense, even with an established set of anti-racist policies as guidance.  This policy lays out the procedures that will be followed when these events inevitably occur.

This policy is based on suggestions in the book ‘White Fragility' by Robin DiAngelo, and the blog post ‘Don't get defensive: 6 ways to being called out despite your best intentions’.  Both of these sources are written by White women; the latter is posted on a blog hosted by a Black woman. "
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Policy #4.1

Code of Conduct

Your Parenting Mojo operates a variety of spaces for community members to interact, which will be governed by the following code of conduct:

Code of conduct/anti-harassment policy located here

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Policy #4.2

Statement of support for Black Lives Matter

Your Parenting Mojo stands in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter Movement calling for an end to police brutality, white supremacy, and accountability for the police officers and white civilians that murdered George Floyd, Ahmaud Aubrey, Breonna Taylor, Sean Reed, Tony McDade, and the other Black Americans who have faced violence while living in a country founded on white supremacy.

Your Parenting Mojo publicly condemns white supremacy and the police murders of people in Black, Indigenous, Latino, and LGBTQ+ communities of color. Your Parenting Mojo is dedicated to creating a society where everyone belongs and where differences and uniqueness are celebrated. This mission demands that we face these oppressions and acknowledge our part in them.

Your Parenting Mojo pledges resources to educating, interrogating, naming, and dismantling our privileges; rooting out anti-Blackness and amplifying Black voices and voices of color. This statement cannot and will not substitute for action that Your Parenting Mojo has taken and will continue to take on dismantling white supremacy.

Your Parenting Mojo recognizes that the Your Parenting Mojo community is a majority white audience. We recognize that the Black population have been doing and living this work for generations and are often called upon to educate their White neighbors. Your Parenting Mojo maintains that it is White people's responsibility to educate themselves and each other.

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Policy #4.3

Your Parenting Mojo welcomes and strives to be inclusive and celebratory of all races, ethnicities, gender identities, sexual orientations, nationalities, cultures, religions, socio-economic statuses, physical abilities, neuro-diversities, ages, body sizes, family structures, housing situation, and education levels. We recognize that white supremacy, colonization, patriarchy, and other oppressional ideologies have created a culture of exclusion that privileges some at the expense of others. We strive to dismantle the privileges of the beneficiaries and their imposed barriers on the historically and systematically marginalized.


Full acknowledgment of all ethnic groups, sexual orientations, culture, and religions drafted based on Critical Race Theory with categories from a Wheel of Power/Privilege adapted from ccrweb.ca posted on social media by a White toronto-based educator and edtech business owner @sylviaduckworth
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Topic Area (E) Policy Review Schedule:

Policy #5.0

A review of the policies and data generated as a result of these policies will take place on an annual basis. The review process will involve the gathering of data described on this page by Your Parenting Mojo, a possible survey of Your Parenting Mojo’s listeners, and the convening of a small panel of Your Parenting Mojo listeners to review the results. The outcome of this review will determine the need for policy revision. Results will be communicated to Your Parenting Mojo listeners in summary form.

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In addition to the Your Parenting Mojo Anti-Racist policies, listed below are existing research-based resources to support you on your own anti-racist journey.

Research-Based Resources for White Parents Related to Race & Privilege

(Past Episodes & Blog Posts)

I want to be clear that I'm not an 'expert' on this topic. If you asked me five years  ago whether I felt I had any particular privilege as a (white) parent of mixed-race (but white-presenting) daughter, I would have said "No, I don't think so."

Four years ago, fellow podcaster Malaika Dower reached out to me because she was a Your Parenting Mojo listener and wanted to interview me about homeschooling.
I started following her show, and in one of her episodes she mentioned how Black parents can't have their children take food or a toy into a store, in case someone thinks they stole it.

Black parents of boys are terrified that their child will have a tantrum in a store, because an out-of-control Black boy is perceived as a threat.

I don't worry about those things. I have privilege.
The below series of podcast episodes and blog posts are my own journey of understanding my privilege, using my platform to help others to understand their own privilege, and to work to dismantle systemic racism.

I am not perfect. I mess up. But I'm trying. And I'm listening.

Anti-Racism / Podcast Episodes

In this early episode, I explore my early ideas about race - clearly I was still mixing up issues of bias and systemic racism which I now more fully understand.

The episode examines how children pick up ideas about race from the world around them, how afraid parents are of talking with their children about this topic, and how taking a 'color-blind' approach where we just see everyone as alike' is not an effective strategy to raise a child who will do their part of the necessary work to overcome systemic racism.


Dr. Yarrow Dunham and I explore how our brains use categories to process large amounts of complex information quickly, and that we often base these categories on superficial qualities like skin color.

Once these groups have been created, we see ourselves as a member of one group and others as not-members, and it's very easy to see the group of which we are a member as superior to any other group.

We then go on to perceive the difference in status of the two groups as due to some essential, unchangeable characteristic of the people in each group - rather than seeing those group members as individuals who have hopes and dreams and worries just like we do.

This is the first in the formal series of episodes on the intersection of parenting and race where I interview Dr. Margaret Hagerman, author of the book White Kids: Growing Up Privileged in a Racially Divided America.

We discuss how the choices we make as parents (e.g. to put our children in a public or private school) and the thing we discuss (or don't discuss) with and around our children (e.g. one parent Dr. Hagerman interviewed said she didn't feel she needed to discuss race with her child because her child watched the racially diverse show Glee) impact their views on race.

Dr. Allison Roda (author of Inequality in Gifted & Talented Programs: Parental Choices about Status, School Opportunity, and Second Generation Segregation) and I explore the ways in which racial privilege shows up in schools, including:

  • Gifted and talented' programs which effectively produce segregation inside otherwise integrated schools
  • School choice and 'opportunity hoarding' by white parents
  • The desire for racial diversity in schools...but not at the expense of my individual child's success
  • Biases in standardized testing tools
  • The uneven enforcement of school rules
  • Ways that white parents can use their privilege to provide opportunities for all children
Listener Dr. Kim Rybacki and I interview luminary Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum, author of the seminal book Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? 
We begin with background on the election of former President Barack Obama and whether we are really heading toward a post-racial society, before we address concrete steps that parents can take to discuss issues related to race with their children.
Dr. Jay Bickford teaches elementary and middle school teachers how to teach social studies.  I reached out to him when I read his writing on teaching this topic comprehensively, rather than leaving children with the idea that 'Rosa Parks sat down on a bus, and now we don't have any more problems.'

We worked together to create a resource for parents to help you discuss slavery and the Civil Rights Movement with your child using widely available children's books, using The Southern Poverty Law Center's framework to ensure that you aren't missing important messages on these topics.

As parents of the dominant culture, it can be very tempting for us to see how hard we're working, and how stressed we are, and how we might be struggling to survive, and think "I don't really have any privilege over everyone else."

In this episode, listener Ann and I explore the process through which she began to understand her own white privilege, after she adopted a Black daughter.

In this episode we turn the tables: listener Dr. Elisa Celis joins me to interview Dr. Ciara Smalls Glover, whose work focuses on building the cultural strengths of youth of non-dominant cultures and their families.
We discuss the ways that culture is transferred to children through parenting, how parents of non-dominant cultures can teach their children about race and racism, and how to balance this with messages of racial pride.

Anti-Racism / Blog Posts

So we've come to terms with the fact that we have privilege. What do we do about it? This post provides some ideas for ways to start dismantling racism.


When we identify as White, it's very easy for us to think that we don't have any special privilege (especially if we grew up in a family that wasn't very affluent, and we saw our parents working hard).  Part of the reason this is so hard to see is that the system is designed to give us benefits that we didn't ask for and to discourage us from looking to closely at where these benefits originate.  And part of the reason is that for too long, we've cast our gaze aside rather than working to understand this better.

If you identify as White, you'll probably find that you benefit from a substantial number of the (non-exhaustive) list of 57 privileges.  Maybe even all of them.

Parents feel caught right now.  Some parents want to protect their children's innocence, and not tell them about the murders of Black people that have happened at the hands of Whites.  Others want to tell their children something, but don't know where to start.

In this blog post I let you know what I felt it was important to tell my daughter, and some words I used in the conversation.

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