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Race or Racism Weren’t Topics of Conversation When I Was Growing Up
Understanding the silence and its impact
My family had no discussions about race with my brother or me when we were growing up. learned about racial differences through observing, listening, classroom subjects, reading, and maturity. We didn’t discuss anything associated with diversity or inclusivity, but to be fair, those latter topics were more popular when I became an adult.
Since we didn’t have those conversations, I didn’t see any race as being better than another because I saw us all as people with equally important emotions. I wasn’t taught people come in different shapes, sizes, and colors. I knew nothing about the history stories of slavery, the bombing of Pearl Harbor, or the atomic bombing of Japan. That came later.
Would I have been more defensive if I had been told at a young age that my parents had an interracial marriage? I doubt it. I didn’t know what that meant until I hit my teen years. I saw my parents as my parents. I saw them as people.
I believe that not having the topic of race or racism at the dinner table taught me not to label people or look at them differently. I also believe it taught me not to think of myself as being any different either.
