NYT: Can my Children be friends with white people

[Dill]

(11-14-2017, 10:30 PM)michaelsean Wrote: If I tell my kids to be suspicious and distrustful when it comes to being friends with black people would you ask this same question?  If I tell them their color is a fault line, will you be impressed by later flowery language?

I don't think the situation of white children in the US is simply the inverse of black. The US does not have a history of blacks enslaving whites, nor of blacks lynching whites, nor of blacks legally discriminating against whites in education, in the military, in housing, and in employment. The issue agitating so many Americans today is whether this past still marks the present in less violent, less visible ways. I can understand why some blacks might not like being told to "suck it up" if they complain of perceived racism. And I can see why they might be a little anxious if large numbers of whites indicate they voted for Trump because they are tired of "political correctness."

I'd be interested in hearing what you would tell your children about the color fault line if they were black. African-Americans are not all unified on these issues. I doubt that Allen West or Ben Carson would write op eds fearful of a "Trump effect" on minorities in America.  Would those children need to know anything about past racism? Would it be better if they don't learn much, or anything, about that past?