Is your toddler 'forming' racist 'attitudes'? This professor says talk to your kids before it's too late.

A Northwestern University psychology professor is pushing for parents to talk to their children about systemic racism as early as preschool, criticizing the “colorblind” approach to teaching kids that race does not matter.

Professor Sylvia Perry told Northwestern Now that parents need to be having conversations about race with their children as soon as “your child can have a conversation with you.”

“Just because you haven’t heard your child say anything prejudiced does not mean that those attitudes are not forming,” Perry alleges. 

[RELATED: Federal government hosted professors’ talks on anti-racist education for young children]

Instead of taking a “passive approach,” on race Perry says, parents need to be “talking to their children about the history of and existence of racism within this country, the social construction of race, and the systemic biases that contribute to racial inequality.”

Through her research, Perry advocates for parents no longer teaching their kids about race by using a “colorblind approach- in which they emphasize a belief that race does not matter” but instead taking a “color conscious approach- in which they acknowledge race-related issues.”

“White parents have the potential to be agents of change that socialize color-conscious beliefs in their children, but many are reinforcing the current system of color-blind indifference to racial inequality,” according to her article ”Socialization of Racial Ideology by White Parents.”

[RELATED: San Diego State researcher runs ‘anti-racist’ day care]

The academic criticism of “color-blind” approaches to race in favor of approaches rooted in the Critical Race Theory framework, is not new or isolated to higher education.

Brooke A Cunningham, an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota, co-wrote an article called “Ensnared by Colorblindness: Discourse on Health Care Disparities” in which she argued, “Race consciousness serves as the foundation for Critical Race Theory (CRT) methodology. Colorblindness minimizes racism as a determinant of outcomes.”

According to the Heritage Foundation, seven states ban teaching Critical Race Theory, and 18 states are considering similar bills.

Campus Reform has reached out to Sylvia Perry, Brooke Cunningham, and Northwestern University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.

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