How to raise anti-racist kids

Suzanne Harrington shares her experience raising dual-heritage children and asks other parents and experts how we can shape our children's view of race 

Suzanne Harrington's daughter Lola Ray photographed at a recent Black Lives Matter rally. Photograph: Lotti Terry

The public killing of a black American by a white American in uniform, at a time when the whole world was stuck at home and watched it on their phone, created a global wave of revulsion. Made us look at ourselves. Made us take to the streets. Made us realise we are a very long way from post-racial. As veteran civil rights campaigner Angela Davis said: “In a racist society it is not enough to be non-racist, we must be anti-racist.”

So how can white Irish parents raise anti-racist Irish kids? How can we let go of the idea that Irishness is whiteness, with racist structures like Direct Provision still in place, and black people at the bottom of the job market? Like everything else that shapes our kids, anti-racism begins at home.