Summer has arrived in Hingham – and things are slowing down, right?
Maybe, but there’s still plenty going on in support of our Sunday School. This week, in collaboration with our Antiracism Ministry (ARM), I joined members of our community to hear Dr. Ibram X. Kendi in conversation with Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, discussing his new book, “How to Raise an Antiracist.” And, in the course of his talk, I found myself noticing the ways his words resonated with other conversations I’ve been having recently, specifically in my work with the Godly Play Foundation.
The Unspoken Lesson
In Godly Play, we refer to many of the things that happen, from the way the room is arranged to the way we move the manipulatives during a story, as the Unspoken Lesson. When you walk into the room, you can see what’s most important, how the focal shelf featuring the Holy Family and the Christ Candle centers the space. The arrangement of the lessons parallels the organization of the Bible itself. Everything is intentional, even when we don’t speak it. So, what does that have to do with anti-racism?
In the same way that the Godly Play classroom offers countless unspoken lessons, children are exposed to unspoken lessons around race and racism, as well as about other kinds of bias and bigotry. For example, one unspoken lesson Dr. Kendi pointed to during his talk was the lesson that stems from caregiver friendships. Research, he told us, demonstrates a stronger correlation between children’s attitudes toward race and racial difference and the number of interracial friendships their parents have, then it does to their parents’ professed attitudes toward race. It’s just one reason why speaking the language of antiracism isn’t enough. The unspoken lessons are too strong.
Freedom Dreaming
In addition to his recently released work on guiding children toward an antiracist future – work that emphasizes how important it is that we actively counter the unspoken lessons about racism surrounding all of us –Dr. Kendi has a new children’s book, “Goodnight Racism,” that’s now a part of our Sunday School library.
With echoes of freedom dreaming, a vital part of Black intellectual and revolutionary tradition, this story doesn’t shy away from naming injustice while also envisioning a gentler future for all children. When we learn to interrogate the conditions of inequality, we can imagine something better, for our children, for everyone’s children, and for ourselves.