

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” – Nelson Mandela
I’ve always loved this quote and it’s never been more relevant than now. Children are a blank canvas, ready to be filled with love and knowledge, so in an effort to more consciously teach diversity, I’ve put together some resources that I’ve gathered over the past two weeks that we’re using here at home. Anti-racism must be a constant learning, teaching, and holding each other accountable process. No one is going to do it perfectly. The important thing is that we ALL make the effort to just move forward with enlightened and understanding hearts and minds, and never regress this far back again.
Books To Read

Think Big, Little One
Full-color illustrations show your little dreamers that they can grow up to do something amazing, no matter what!

We're Different, We're The Same
Give it to the Sesame Street muppets to show how they may differ in size, shape, and color, but in the end they remain the same. This book illustrates pictures of different skin colors, eyes, noses, hair, and teaches children that it’s okay to be different.

Happy in Our Skin
A picture book all about skin and how significant it is to our bodies. It’s a great book to start discussing diversity with very small children.

The Day You Begin
This book speaks directly to the children who may be marked as outsiders among their peers due to the color of their skin, the “different” food they bring to school, or their home language.

Hair Love
Written by a former N.F.L player and now an Oscar-winning short film, ‘Hair Love’ tells the story of a black father teaching himself how to do his daughter’s hair for the very first time.

The Youngest Marcher
This book tells the story of a young 9-year-old girl, Audrey Faye Hendricks, taken from her family to spend a week behind bars after marching in the Children’s March during the civil rights movement in 1963.
To Watch
CNN partnered with “Sesame Street” for a special town hall about racism, providing both children and parents with advice on how to fight racism when you see it and to understand how these issues affect the people around you. Watch “Coming Together: Standing Up To Racism.”

For parents, I loved this segment from @yumi and @dr.annlouise.lockhart, parenting coach and owner of @anewdaypsych for an honest discussion on how to talk to your children about race. If you have children, this is an incredibly valuable conversion explaining the deeper physical history of how racism trauma is passed down through DNA, and also how to speak to our children about this most horrific and uncomfortable reality. Watch HERE.

Watch the PBS KIDS Learning Kit with Daniel Tiger “Life’s Little Lessons,” a series of videos, activities, and letters for families to teach children value and appreciate the ways in which we are alike and ways in which we are different.

Love this article on “How To Talk To Kids About Racism” on The Tot!
Hope you find this helpful and please be sure to leave a comment below sharing any other resources that I should know about!
XO, Jessi
Elizabeth
Thank you for putting this together! These resources are great :)
Jessi Malay
Of course! So glad you found this helpful love :)
Jamie
Couldn’t agree with you more, children really are a blank canvas and it’s up to us as parents to teach them what’s right!
Jessi Malay
Exactly!! Thank you for reading <3
Gina Checchia
Thanks for sharing this! Great resources and a great idea!
XoXo,
Gina Checchia
https://www.a-girl-in-la.com/
Jessi Malay
Of course! So glad you found these helpful :)