As people across the world joined in protests against police brutality over the weekend, demanding justice for George Floyd, many of the headlines focused on violent stand-offs. But there was another story happening at many of the peaceful demonstrations held on Saturday and Sunday: Parents were bringing their children, teaching them a valuable, if scary, lesson about fighting for racial equality.
This very notion might seem difficult for us to digest now, after months of keeping our children sheltered at home from the coronavirus. You have probably seen photos and videos of the way the protests escalated at the end of each night, with police spraying pepper and tear gas, hitting protesters with batons, and in some cases driving their vehicles into crowds.
But we trust parents to know what is and isn’t safe for their own children. During the day, in cities across the country, there were also peaceful marches, to which it made more sense for parents to bring their kids. Or, it made less sense to stay home. This was especially true for parents of Black children, who are already learning the devastating lesson that they could be a target of police brutality.
“Am I next?” asked a sign one small Black boy held up — in a photo so widely shared on social media that we can’t tell where he was protesting. The truth is, any Black boy in any city could be asking the same question.
It was also a moment for white parents to teach their children about being allies, so we saw them at several daytime, socially distanced gatherings. For a generation that has spent the past four years accompanying their parents to marches, this felt like a logical thing to do.
We gathered some of the images of children at these protests below, and will let their signs speak for them. At the same time, we also don’t blame the parents who stayed home (as I did). The threat of COVID-19 still looms large, as does the chance that the demonstrations will take a turn for the worse without warning. A widely shared video from Seattle appears to show a 9-year-old girl who was pepper-sprayed by a police officer.
If you don’t feel safe taking to the streets, visit some of our other stories offering ways to teach your kids to be anti-racist, and to help protesters in other ways.
Teach your kids about this country’s real story, with these American history books for children.
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