Oh please. Nowhere in my comment did I 'splain how racism works. In fact I very much acknowledged the harm she suffered.

I disagree with placing adult motivations and thought nuance onto children. I have a child and so have been around children as they develop. I’m aware of when the shift away from just parroting what they hear to critically accepting or disengaging from their parents beliefs. It’s not at 8 years old.

Nobody’s saying it makes it any better or excuses the behavior to the one on the receiving end. Or arguing against that it needs to end.

This is about closure and healing. An 8 year old cannot manage themselves and how they perpetuate social mores. They’re completely dependent upon adults to delineate what is right and what is wrong. They are no more responsible for what they parrot than how the 8 year old who doesn’t meet those social mores absorbs the idea that they’re not as good as those who do.

There will never be accountability for racism as long as people are willing to pass the buck onto children rather than hold the adults who are not attacking racism systemically on social, political, and economic fronts accountable.

You want better children. Be better adults.

They’re children. Not political monsters. Children.

It’s not like there aren’t some necessary and hard conversations to be had around racism, even in regards to children. But do you blame the mirror for what it reflects or do you blame that God awful outfit you chose to wear.

Children are mirrors, a reflection of societal values.