No body is encouraging children to feel shame. A child saw the institution of slavery in America (black people inslaved by white people) and her young brain intuited white=bad. Shame isnt the goal, at all. It’s an immature response to complex information. Do we think that kids shouldn’t learn math because if it’s hard they might think they’re stupid? No, we tell them they aren’t stupid, math is hard, and we help them understand it. This kid is lucky to have parents who are able and willing to explain that yes those white people did bad things she wasn’t a part of that, she wasn’t there. There were also white abolitionists and quakers, people against slavery who she can aspire to be like. White people are complex . We can hope that her smart parents will connect the legacy of slavery to our present fight against racism.

The false equalizing here is is awful on its face. It assumes that these white children are being called hurtful names and completely neglects the reality that whiteness in the dominant culture. Black kids are getting called the n word daily and are going home crying. No one is wishing that on any child, but in order to stop it we have to educate children about racism. If they misinterpret that information as an attack on their character, hopefully their good teachers and parents can clear things up.