Preface

Many children grow up in neighborhoods that provide limited opportunities to interact with people who are different from their own families. Consequently, children’s perspectives about race, class, gender, and sexuality come from the media. Prospectives also emerge from what children have not been told. Such invisibility and misrepresentation of marginalized individuals contribute to inequality by teaching children how to discriminate or by leaving some kids feeling excluded. This book aims to teach children about empathy, inclusion, and diversity. "Using Racial and Ethnic Concepts" by Debra Van Ausdale and Joe R. Feagin highlights how for most children, racial and/or ethnic identity is an important aspect of themselves, and they demonstrate this in insightful ways in important social contexts. As stated in "Interpretive Reproduction" by William A. Corsaro, socialization is not something that happens to children; it is a process in which children, in interaction with others produce their own peer culture and eventually come to reproduce, extend, and join the adult world.

At school I’ll see that some kids look different than me. Some have brown skin and some have white skin, but we are all the same.

I’ll learn that some kids live in a different neighborhood than me. I’ll even learn that some kids come from a different city, state, or country than me! 

But still, we are all the same.

I’ll recognize that some kids have more or less money than me but no matter the dollar amount, we are all the same.