In 2021, a children’s book about racism, Our Skin, written by Megan Madison and Jessica Ralli, sparked controversy.

The children’s book aimed at kindergarten-age children acknowledges racism’s history and its culprits.

However, some readers have taken issue with the book’s assertion that white people invented, perpetuated, and maintained racism. The book has raised questions about the appropriate age to start discussing racism with children and the double standards for different racial groups.”

Any discussion about racism must begin with identifying the correct culprits.

Whenever discussions of racism arise, many white people and their supporters think such isn’t relevant and outdated. When anyone asserts that white people are responsible for  racism, they characterize it as “inflammatory.” 

The book contends, “A long time ago, way before you were born, a group of white people made up an idea called race. They sorted people by skin color and said that white people were better, smarter, prettier and that they deserved more than everybody else.”  It then says, “That isn’t true or fair at all!”

Why is this children’s book about racism stirring controversy?

Blaming white people for classifying the races and their offspring as racist seems hurtful to those who oppose the book. While the age-appropriateness of the book might be a touchy point, it inadvertently raises a simple question causing arguments. That question is, “What is the appropriate age to start telling children the truth about racism?”

 Opponents of a children’s book about racism also reject teaching it to older students. They are against teaching it to junior high and high school students. Opponents of Critical Race Theory argue that it’s inappropriate for college-age students. But the question of age appropriateness remains, at least for whites.

Black children, in particular, are introduced to it early in life, not from theory or reading a book but from real-world experiences. The same applies to brown and yellow children. It seems that white children should get a special pass while all the other kids don’t.

Those in opposition due to “age-inappropriateness” seem only concerned with the mental stability of white kids. Apparently, they are too fragile to deal with all this talk about racism until they reach Oh, that’s right. The court is still out on which age is “appropriate.”

Talk About A Screwed-Up History 

Opponents have no issue teaching young children about George Washington’s cherry tree lie.

Teaching them that Christopher Columbus “discovered” this land is also not a problem. The school system teaches kindergarten-age kids to celebrate and glorify the slaughter of Native peoples, whom that system characterizes as savages. And because the Native peoples defended their land and way of life, they demonized them.

Whites, on the other hand, are presented as peace-loving settlers and not as murderers of innocent people.  

It’s all well and good when white people are presented as heroes. What white people do in those contexts is accepted and welcomed. But when the deeds of white people are highlighted in a balanced presentation, there is sudden concern about age appropriateness.

The objectors characterized this as teaching hate. So, in essence, telling the truth about white people is equated with teaching hatred.

Everyone, Including Children Should Learn The Roots of Racism 

The historical record bolsters the authors.

Here’s why.

Race classification started in the 18th century by Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus and German anthropologist Johann Fredrich Blumenbach.

Linnaeus developed a system of classifying species of plants. Blumenbach expanded Linnaesus’ work to include humans. His was a hierarchal construct with whites at the top and blacks at the bottom.

Others would later inflate the concoction but would retain the construct. Until that point in human history, humanity had never invented such a thing. White people were the first and the only branch of humanity to do this.

As a result, Europeans classified black people out of the human race.

Organized as it was in this way helped justify the bestial treatment of black people and enabled the white kidnapper society to receive lucrative advantages and benefits from the free labor of black people.

Whites were the beneficiaries of that system.

Therefore, the book is correct when it states: “racism is also the things people do and the unfair rules they make about race so that white people get more power.” That is an indisputable historical fact that the curious mind can easily verify. To teach otherwise would be to “whitewash” history.

The authors of this book and others who agree with them are correct, but the backlash from many white people is typical and expected but does not contribute to a healthy discussion about racism.