How to explain pejorative reappropriation to a third grader? || Victoria Brown

Sticks, Stones and That Word

Teaching my son the meaning of the N(Nigger/Preto)-word means confronting our family’s racial blind spots.

By Victoria Brown July 26, 2019

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Was it a disservice to not prepare my children to be discriminated against? What kind of parenting is that? An idyllic childhood cocooned in an homogeneous village gave me a strong sense of self, but in America I was unprepared for the ugliness of racial ignorance. Incomprehension turned to terror the first time I was racially profiled in a store. I couldn’t quite understand one employer’s meaning when she expressed surprise at how well I read. “Are you sure you’re in the right place?” asked an art gallery owner. Perversely, I refuse to let any of these interactions become normalized and I allow myself to be surprised every time they happen (and yes, it still happens, especially now that we have moved to Florida: “You’re a professor?”).

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