Mom of two Jane Park felt compelled to teach her kids — Bennett, 7, and Ruby, 5 — about anti-Asian hate after the Atlanta shooting on March 16 [1], which killed eight people. In a now-viral video she shared on her social media accounts, Jane engaged her children in a sight word test with an important message [2] on the racism and violence many Asian Americans are experiencing right now.
"In the three short months of 2021, I've had more difficult conversations with my kids than I ever had with my own parents," she wrote in her Instagram caption. "It breaks my heart to have them, and I don't know what the right way is, except to falter and be awkward, and try to process together. My fellow Asian American parents, I'm grieving and standing with you today. Let us better equip our kids for the world they will inherit and shape."
In the exercise, Jane had Bennett and Ruby read two sentences: "Stop Asian hate. Hate is a virus." Then she asked her children why hate could bee called a virus. After listening to her kids share that viruses "infect" people, she asked if hate can do the same thing.
"Let us better equip our kids for the world they will inherit and shape."
"Racism is that if somebody looks different, they say that they're, like, not as good as the other because they look different based on the colour of their skin," Bennett responded. "Or like, if they're Asian."
Jane then touched on the recent acts of violence against Asian Americans that have been taking place across the US. She asked Bennett how he felt about the news and underscored that this type of violence shouldn't be tolerated. "And that could be somebody that we know, right?" she asked. "How do you think we should respond to things like that?"
She also ensured Bennett that they can speak out against it, talk about it, and build awareness "because not everybody might know what's going on." Additionally, she followed up on TikTok with a list of AAPI-approved resources [4] for parents who want to discuss anti-Asian hate with their kids but don't know where to start.
@janeparkang [5] Link is in my bio for #YoungProudSungJee [6] #StopAsianHate [7] #ProudtobeAsian [8]
♬ original sound - Jane [9]
Although Jane was apprehensive about having this conversation with her kids at first, she wants them to be prepared. "My greatest fear is that it goes unaddressed [10] and I assume that my kids will know how to handle it, not internalize it," she told Today Parents. "I think that they need to be equipped with the language, how to recognise when something is not right or [is] a form of racism, and to, of course, stand up if they see it elsewhere or others being targeted."