{"id":81437,"date":"2020-05-19T11:23:58","date_gmt":"2020-05-19T19:23:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437///wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437//www.yesmagazine.org/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437//?post_type=article&p=81437"},"modified":"2020-05-19T14:27:34","modified_gmt":"2020-05-19T22:27:34","slug":"coronavirus-parenting-antiracist","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437///wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437//www.yesmagazine.org/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437//opinion/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437//2020/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437//05/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437//19/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437//coronavirus-parenting-antiracist","title":{"rendered":"Antiracist Parenting During COVID-19 and Beyond"},"content":{"rendered":"/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/n
Over the past two months, our lives have shifted dramatically. One day, we were reading about the spread of COVID-19 abroad, and the next, most of the world/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/u2019s population was sheltering in place. For those of us who are parents, we are suddenly everything to our children: teachers, caretakers, playmates, and more. All of this while holding the grief of an altered life with little time to process. Even as some states and cities begin reopening, the lingering effects of the coronavirus, and the accompanying political and economic shifts, will continue to inform us over this year and beyond./wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/n
We met at an Emergent Strategy training in Detroit in October 2018. During that weekend, we explored what it means to embrace change, harness creativity, and work collaboratively toward a more liberatory way of working and living. As two White people raising young children/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/u2014Rachel has a 2-year-old and Jardana has a 4- and an 8-year-old/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/u2014we have remained in support of each other around the exploration of antiracism, queerness, activism, and parenting. /wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/n We cannot pretend this pandemic is a great equalizer and ignore the impact that it is having on Black people and other people of color./wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/n We have been grappling with the questions: How do we enact antiracist parenting practices during the pandemic and beyond? And, how is this time asking more of us as parents committed to social justice? After conversations with our communities, we found many people were experiencing grief, fear, and isolation. While these feelings are a direct reaction to the coronavirus public health and economic crises, they/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/u2019re also a response to the undeniable racial disparities these crises have exposed. Here, we discuss how to meet these emotions in the service of ending white supremacy, and how we stay connected to each other and to our community in a time of social distancing. /wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/n We cannot pretend this pandemic is a great equalizer, as suggested in earlier months, and ignore the impact that it is having on Black people and other people of color. From verbal racist attacks against Asian Americans and immigrants here in the United States to the disparate number of cases and deaths among Black, Brown, and Indigenous people, we are witnessing the continued dehumanization of people of color in service to upholding capitalism and white supremacy./wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/n Overall in the U.S., Black people and other people of color experience higher levels of violence, housing insecurity, and job discrimination than their White counterparts. During COVID, existing health disparities and lack of access to quality medical care has led to disproportionately high mortality rates within communities of color as well: In Louisville, Kentucky, where Jardana lives, 12% of the people who have died of COVID-19 are Black, but they are only 8.3% of the state/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/u2019s population. In Chicago, where Rachel lives, the numbers are even more staggering: Black people are 30% of the city/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/u2019s population, but make up 72% of the COVID-19 deaths. /wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/n We have both been a part of grassroots organizations that are working to confront the effects of institutionalized racism head on. /wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/n Jardana has been working with the Bail Project for decarceration. Jails are hotbeds for the spread of COVID-19, and have the potential to wipe out large groups of people in a short amount of time. Initially, our protests looked like people standing 6 feet apart in front of the jail and calling the governor to release incarcerated folks. Over the past few weeks, under the leadership of the Bail Project and Louisville Showing up for Racial Justice, it has looked like 50 cars, plastered with signs, horns blasting, as we circle ICE and the jail, demanding release. /wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/nWhat/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/u2019s at Stake?/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/n/wp-json/wp/v2/article/81437/n