Parents of the White Awokening

Abstract

BLM activism brought academic discussions of systemic racism outside the walls of the university and into the mainstream. For the white parents in our study, this was a radically new way of thinking about race in the United States. However, as public conversations about racial inequality gained greater visibility, parents began to question their racial beliefs and practices. This article explores how white parents navigate their new understandings of race that challenged previous color-blind perspectives. Parents came to endorse new strategies of action with respect to the racial socialization of their children.