This article is written by a TNSM parent and member of the Diversity and Community and Engagement Committee (D+CE) and expresses her views. At TNSM, we are grateful to have this D+CE forum that allows opportunities for members of our community to share their own beliefs, always with the goal of expanding our understanding of each other’s experiences and points of view.
The end of the school year is always an exciting and busy time, full of more than we can fully take in. When I sat down to work on this week’s Diversity & Community Engagement post, I started by googling and came across the most wonderful collection of resources. Through the magic/terror of Google’s algorithms, the first result my search returned was an archived blog post from this very same committee last spring. In it, Randi Burlew offered us a treasure trove of resources, links, and suggestions for how to keep issues of diversity and inclusion active in our households during the summer. Somehow in the buzz of last May’s activities, I missed it, so today I encourage you to (re)visit the list and bookmark it to use throughout the summer. Thank you, Randi!
Summer Activities to Focus on Diversity and Inclusion
Please watch and discuss:
Ages (3-6)
- These Sesame Street Videos (Color of Me Song; Beautiful Skin Song; Black History Month Compilation; Maya Angelou’s Name Song)
- Bookmarks: Celebrating Black Voices on Netflix
Ages (6-9)
- PBS Kids Talk About Race and Racism
- Barbie and Nikki discuss racism
- This video series about Kids in Other Countries
- Read along of the book Say Something
- Motown Magic on Netflix
Ages (9-12)
- The Frontline episode about poor children dealing with the pandemic, Growing up Poor in America
- Systemic Racism Explained
- This very short video about kids learning a lesson about privilege
- Dear… on Apple+
- The UK Video, Show Racism the Red Card
Parents
- Race Forward’s video series on systemic racism
- Ted Talk interview of the founders of Black Lives Matter
- Ted Talk about why we need to talk to children about race and difference
- Bonus! Listen to one of these podcasts. The Raising Equity Podcast featuring diversity, equity, and inclusion experts on Talking to Kids About Racism (you can also watch it on YouTube here) or one of these Bright Horizons podcasts about talking to young children about social justice and race.
You can do these as a family:
- Write a letter to one of the local Asian restaurants that was victim to Anti-Asian racism, letting them know we are glad they are part of our community.
- Visit the National Underground Railroad Museum.
- Visit the Nancy and David Wolf Holocaust and Humanity Center at the Cincinnati Museum Center.
- Write a letter to our congressional representatives about a social justice issue that is impacting Cincinnati.
- Meet up with another TNSM family over Zoom to discuss one of the diversity books or videos listed above.
- Choose one of these videos about living in poverty and have a family conversation using the discussion questions as a guide.
Does your family observe a tradition or cultural holiday that you’d like to share with the TNSM community? Do you have a passion for or expertise in a certain area of DEI? The D&CE committee is always looking for books, resources, and classroom speakers to help deepen the cultural competency of our school community. Please email us as diversity@…