Not My Idea
So it’s Sunday, and lots of times I write a “Sunday Story” about my experiences. This isn’t one of them. Today’s story is about a book, a children’s book as a matter of fact. It’s titled: Not My Idea – A Book About Whiteness; written by Anastasia Higgenbotham. Maybe instead of calling this a “Sunday Story”, I should be calling it my “Sunday Book Report”.
This is an illustrated kid’s book, that took me about ten minutes to read, and it’s being hammered in the crazed right-wing media. They are screaming – it’s “racist, critical race theory, propaganda” aimed at kids. I wasn’t sure what to think about that, but I knew I had to read the book to find out.
Get Uncomfortable
And I get why the right-wing media finds the book more than uncomfortable. This is a book directed at white children in America. It starts with the title – what’s “not my idea”? And the answer to that question from the very first page is that racism and white supremacy is not the child/reader’s idea. It’s an idea that existed long before that child came into being, and it’s not theirs. They don’t have to accept it.
It helps to know that the author uses the term “whiteness” to cover all of the racist advantages of being white in our society, versus being a person of color. Being “white” is not a thing, it is a fact. But “whiteness” is using that being white to unfairly benefit over people of color.
The book is uncomfortable to read if you’re a white adult. It calls you out on the concept that you can be “color blind”, and then pretend everything is OK. Everything is not OK – and pretending just allows for racism to continue. But it also offers a form of forgiveness. Racism is “inherent” in our nation, from the beginning. You weren’t born a racist, but you were born in a nation that rewarded some races and punished others, and still does. That’s not your fault. What IS your fault is what you do about it. That’s where complicity in racism begins.
Absolution
But the white child, the target of this book, is born without blame. They see racist interactions in our society – whether it’s George Floyd under the knee of a policeman, or white insurrectionists allowed into the Capitol but Black Lives Matter protestors tear gassed. And this book explains the racism they cannot help but see – and calls on the adults in the child’s life to do the same.
The message to those adults is that telling white children “You don’t need to worry about this” or “Our family is kind to everyone, we don’t see color,” isn’t the answer to racism. Because children will see racism: from how their friends of color are treated by society, to what they see in the news. The author’s message: “Racism isn’t only happening to Black and brown people. Racism is a white person’s problem – and we are all caught up in it”.
The book goes onto explain how society perpetuates racism, whiteness, and how many white people ignore the problem. But it also highlights those historic white and Black people who have worked to stop racism, from the Abolitionist Grimke sisters in the 1830’s, up to Colin Kaepernick today.
And it calls on the children to do something about racism – by recognizing it continues, and that white people still benefit from it. It defines racism as “whiteness”, and tells the child “…you can be white, without signing on to ‘whiteness’”. The first way to do this is to gain knowledge – as the author says “Innocence is overrated”.
This isn’t the first illustrated “children’s” book that comes with a strong political message. Maus by Art Spiegelman was always in my classroom. It is a graphic novel about the Holocaust, with the Jews as mice and the Nazis as cats. Maus was a tool to explain the Holocaust without the raw horror of first person accounts like Night by Elie Wiesel (though that book was always in my classroom as well).
A Dangerous Book
But in today’s world Not My Idea – A Book About Whiteness would be “dangerous” to have in a classroom. Dangerous for the teacher, in an era when white adults are demanding the suppression of “change”. Dangerous because school administrators and school boards are unwilling to take up the fight against racism directly with their parents.
There is so much controversy already – from testing to taxes. Not My Idea would put the issue of racism square up-front. We are in a world already polarized by vaccinations and anti-vaxxers, Black Lives Matter and Blue Live Matter, Insurrectionists and everyone else – all in the community and all screaming their message. There are so many who are demanding that we can’t discuss “ideas” that go against the grain. Not My Idea would put the teacher, the administrator, and the school on the right side of the fight, but directly in the crosshairs for attack. It’s not hard to see why they wouldn’t have the “stomach” for it.
But if you are a white parent wanting help explaining to your white child how their friends of color face a different world, then Not My Idea would be a great tool. And if you are a person who still thinks that “everything’s equal now”, maybe you should read it for yourself. Racism wasn’t your idea, but it’s now your responsibility.
- Not My Idea – A Book About Whiteness – by Anastasia Higginbotham – 2018
- It can be in your hands in a couple of days from Amazon for less than $15.00
- Article about banning this book in Texas – Texas Signal
- The Fox News take on teaching from this book
