The Race Talk Toolkit: How to Start Conversations Your Black Child Needs You to Have
Race never came up in my house. My parents loved me, and nobody had ever told them those talks mattered, so I went out into the world without words for most of what I was living.
The Race Talk Toolkit has ten conversations I needed and never had. Each one opens with a short piece of my story. Then you get words to say and words to skip. You'll also see how the talk changes from the little years to the preteen years to the teen years, and what to do when it goes sideways.
- When your child asks why they look different from you
- When your child comes home upset after something racist happened
- Talking about police before your child needs it
- When extended family says something racist
- Black history all year long
- Hair, beauty and what beautiful means
- Building Black community around your child
- When your teenager starts pulling away
- Talking about their birth family
- Keeping the conversation going
Two more sections cover what to do after you say the wrong thing and how to listen when your child finally says something hard.
27 pages, instant PDF download.
About Michael Gaither
I'm a Black man who was adopted and raised by a white family in Lincoln, Nebraska. I spent 30 years in education as a teacher and a principal, and 13 of those years running my own executive leadership coaching business for school principals. My book is I Was Your Black Child: What White Parents Raising Black Children Need to Hear Before It's Too Late.
