Reduce Discrimination "Where are the Native Americans now?"

attribute
a wealth difference between communities 
to the groups’ capabilities or intelligence rather than something external, such 
as a historical advantage one group has had over another. Children often go 
one step further and think that groups are biologically or 
innately
different. 
These attitudes are what psychologists call essentialist beliefs because they 
attribute group differences to some deep, underlying and often unknown 
“essence.” 
These tendencies toward inherence and essentialism are especially harmful 
when we think about children’s efforts to understand racial disparities. 
Scientists agree that race is not biological. It is not inherent or innate. Instead 
race is the product of social and cultural ideas that are imposed on groups of 
people. These ideas become codified in our institutions and in the ways that 
we interact with one another, thus producing the inequalities we see in the 
world. 
This means that children need 
external
explanations, such as historical 
injustices and racial discrimination, to understand the differences between 
groups that they are observing. Without that context, children can mistakenly 
believe that racial difference is inherent, which leaves them with an inaccurate 
understanding of the world. More concerning, these beliefs about the inherent 

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or essential nature of racial difference are actually a foundation of racial bias. 
In fact, multiple studies have found that when kids have more essentialist 
beliefs about race, they also hold more 
stereotypes
about other racial 
groups. 
In other words, without explicit discussions about race and the external, rather 
than internal, causes of racial disparities, children will come to the wrong 
conclusions and may develop racial biases. In principle, these problems could 
apply to any child who is not given greater context for racial differences. White 
children may be especially at risk because they are often the least likely to 
have conversations about racism with their families. In fact, one of us 
(Sullivan) tracked almost 1,000 parents in 2020 and found that white 
Americans were significantly less likely to talk to their children about race than 
Black Americans, even after the much publicized murder of George Floyd 
prompted national protests and dialogue about racism. 
When we think about new laws limiting discussion of race in schools, it’s 
critical to keep in mind how they will impact children of color specifically. The 
research we’ve discussed suggests that students will be more likely to 
develop racially biased views in the absence of explicit lessons. As a result, 
children of color are likely to face more discrimination, not less. This outcome 
is clearly at odds with the language of the laws, which explicitly state that 
children should not be made to feel psychological distress because of their 
race. Yet that is precisely what will happen if children of color face more 
discrimination. 
In contrast, explicit conversations with kids about racial disparities can help 
reduce some of the negative consequences we have described. In one study, 
white elementary school students who received history lessons about racial 
discrimination faced by Black people had more positive views of Black people 
and were less likely to hold stereotypes than students who didn’t receive such 
lessons. And those lessons did not lead either white or Black children to hold 
more negative views of white Americans, which is a commonly voiced 
concern among those who oppose teaching about racism. There is also early 
evidence from a preprint paper (which has not yet been through peer review) 
that when parents engage in honest, accurate conversations about race with 
their children, it can decrease kids’ racial biases. 
The laws passed in Iowa and elsewhere claim to protect kids from forming 
racist beliefs, but the research suggests they are more likely to do the 
opposite. When it comes to children’s understanding of racism and the 
development of racist beliefs, the biggest danger isn’t teaching or talking to 
children about these topics—it’s staying quiet. 

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