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. 2021 Sep 21;118(38):e2106366118.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.2106366118.

Conversations about race in Black and White US families: Before and after George Floyd's death

J Nicky Sullivan  1 , Jennifer L Eberhardt  1 , Steven O Roberts  1
Affiliations

Conversations about race in Black and White US families: Before and after George Floyd's death

J Nicky Sullivan et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .

Abstract

Research has shown that Black parents are more likely than White parents to have conversations about race with their children, but few studies have directly compared the frequency and content of these conversations and how they change in response to national events. Here we examine such conversations in the United States before and after the killing of George Floyd. Black parents had conversations more often than White parents, and they had more frequent conversations post-Floyd. White parents remained mostly unchanged and, if anything, were less likely to talk about being White and more likely to send colorblind messages. Black parents were also more worried than White parents-both that their children would experience racial bias and that their children would perpetrate racial bias, a finding that held both pre- and post-Floyd. Thus, even in the midst of a national moment on race, White parents remained relatively silent and unconcerned about the topic.

Keywords: children; colorblindness; parents; racial inequality; racial socialization.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Rates of conversation. Percentages of Black (gray bars) and White (white bars) parents reporting conversations across topics pre-Floyd and post-Floyd. Error bars represent bootstrapped SEs.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Frequencies of conversations. Reported frequencies of conversations among Black (gray bars) and White (white bars) parents who report conversations across topics pre-Floyd and post-Floyd. Error bars represent bootstrapped SEs.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Parental worry. Reported worry that their child will be a target of bias (Left) or will be biased (Right) among Black (gray bars) and White (white bars) parents pre-Floyd and post-Floyd. Error bars represent bootstrapped SEs.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

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