An advertisement in a colonial broadside newspaper advertises a cargo of slaves just imported from Africa on the ship Two Brothers.

An advertisement in a colonial broadside newspaper advertises a cargo of slaves just imported from Africa on the ship Two Brothers. (MPI/Stringer / Getty Images)


I always knew my children would have a wonderful library, and they do. Partly because my husband and I are lovers of books and I don't think you can have too many. And, partly because one of the saddest days I ever had was when I sold off most of my books to raise the money to move to D.C. so I could start my career here. In the age of Kindle, this sounds quaint, no doubt, but for whatever reason I have always associated happiness with being surrounded by books and giving them up was painful to me, even for a good reason.

So, of course, I overcompensate with my children (there are worse things, so leave me alone).

And I also have thoughtful and generous friends, and a number of my oldest and closest friends are teachers so it's not surprising that their favorite gifts to give the children are books. But last year, two sent us books that threw me for a loop (as my mother would say). One was the story of a young boy who escaped slavery with the help of his dog, a true story, in fact. Another was the children's version of the biography of one of my personal heroes, Ida B. Wells Barnett, who not only began raising her younger siblings as a teenager after both of her parents died of yellow fever but who later became a pioneering anti lynching activist and one of the founders of the NAACP.

Both are inspiring stories, but they are rooted in pain and horror.

How do I explain to a young child why a little boy would run away and why grown men would send dogs after him, and tie him up, and pour liquor down his throat to keep him quiet? And how do I explain what lynching was, and why anyone would do this to someone else? Just like the shooting at the Holocaust Museum. How to explain that to my children?

Why, why, why? Can't we all just get along? Can't we ignore it?

So when we came across this study (pdf) -- that we reported yesterday, that said not talking about race can be worse than talking about it -- it made me think again. Okay, so now that we've decided to talk about it, what do we say?

Fortunately there's no need to think about it alone. That's why we have the moms.

We'll have more on this topic in a few weeks as we review a new book coming out about the impact of the Holocaust on three generations of women in one family.

categories: More on Race

2:42 - September 15, 2009

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