Excerpt:
"How do white parents teach their children about race and racism?

I asked myself this question a few years ago when in survey after survey, I noticed that black people cited race and racial discrimination as factors that shaped their life experiences and outcomes, while many white people downplayed the significance of race and racism. As an academic, I was troubled by how many white respondents minimized racism in contemporary society, despite a vast body of scholarship showing persistent racial inequality in the areas of income, wealth and homeownership — among others.

To make sense of this discrepancy, I’ve spent the past few years researching how white people think about race and racism and more specifically, how white parents verbally and nonverbally communicate racial messages to their children. What I learned was that white parents often refrain from speaking with their children about race, racism and racial inequality. If racial discussions do occur they are characterized by a colorblind rhetoric. White parents adopt these practices because they believe it will help them raise a non-racist child. From a sociological perspective though, white parents' racial messages may do more harm than good."