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Parenting During Ferguson: Making Sense of White Silence

Mon, August 14, 2:30 to 4:10pm, Palais des congrès de Montréal, Floor: Level 5, 513F

Abstract

This paper examines what white, middle-class parents say to their children about racial tension and racial protest when race-related events like Michael Brown’s death and the Ferguson protests are the top news story. To answer these questions, I interviewed forty white, middle-class parents in 2014-15. Study results indicate that few parents spoke with their children about racial tension or racial protests – even when such discussions were highly visible in the news and on social media. I argue parents’ silence stemmed from a class-based desire to create an idyllic, worry-free childhood as well as an inability to understand how such subjects related to their white life. Not all parents, however, were silent. Twelve participants spoke with their children about these subjects but most adopted a neutral or a defensive color-blind frame. Only two participants drew attention to issues of power and privilege.

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