White, liberal parents are also to blame

The murder of George Floyd is a blatant example of racism that outrages us good, white liberals, but what about the acts of racism that we commit and dismiss? And what about when we encourage racism through our parenting?

I live in a suburban neighborhood in New Haven, where most of my neighbors are white lawyers, doctors, professors and other professionals who have access to institutional power. They discuss their disdain for police brutality in communities of color. They support immigrants and refugees. They have contempt for Trump’s encouragement of white supremacy. In short, they take issue with racism as a political issue.

However my neighbors, like many white, liberal professionals, often fail to take action in their personal lives. As a result, they support white supremacist agendas. Many of them even perpetuate white supremacy through their child rearing. They want educational equity but they won’t send their kids to public schools. And if they do, they certainly

All whites, but especially liberal professionals with access to institutional power, must stop teaching their kids to segregate.

do not send them to the high school that is 95 percent black, even if it is their neighborhood school. They want New Haven to be a sanctuary city, but they do not send their children to city summer camps to build friendships with the children of immigrant laborers. They take their kids out of the city sport programs around middle school and put them in expensive private clubs, removing their money from the city programs that benefit predominantly low-income children of color. And I get it; they are just helping their kid “get ahead.” But get ahead of whom?

White, liberal professionals benefit from white supremacy, not just privilege, whether they want to acknowledge it or not. The same white supremacy that encouraged the murder of George

Floyd allows their children to rise to the top of the white supremacist rubric and go to elite universities. They are in the top 1 percent because others are at the bottom. We don’t get to pick and choose when and how white supremacy and racism hurts “them” and benefits “us.” If we are benefiting, it’s most likely because they are not.

All whites, but especially liberal professionals with access to institutional power, must stop teaching their kids to segregate, thereby reinforcing that there is an “us” and “them.” Not until this happens will the open, honest racists be forced to stop killing black and brown people. And speaking of honesty, let’s try it. If you are a good, white liberal, ask yourself this question: Although you may not have kneeled on the neck of George Floyd and you feel terribly now, would you have hung out with him or encouraged your kids to play with his kids?

Tracy L. Tamborra is a professor of criminal justice at the University of New Haven who studies race, class and gender issues in the criminal justice system.