Will my 6-year-old outgrow her racism? A Color Confrontation Response

Dear Prudence,

My 6-year-old daughter has beautiful blond hair and blue eyes. She gets compliments regularly from people on how pretty she is and basks in the attention. She attends a small private school, and there is a little boy in her class who is black. He is sweet, well-mannered and has a great sense of humor. His parents are lovely people. The problem is that over the last two years my daughter has been making comments about people’s skin, particularly addressed to this little boy. These comments are along the lines of, “I don’t want to sit by him because he has dark skin.” Her teacher and I have sat down to discuss this with her and explain that this behavior is unacceptable to no avail. The other day she watched the beginning of “Love Actually” with me and she commented that the interracial couple shouldn’t be getting married because they don’t look right together.

Obviously my method of teaching her to treat everyone equally and be accepting of all different people is not working. Her school is getting more concerned, although they know I am trying my best to combat it. Do I just hope she grows out of this, or is there something else I can do? [from [HERE]

— At a Loss

Dr. Welsing on Dealing with Color Deficiency and Numerical Inadequacy [MORE] 

"Racism (white supremacy), having begun as a form of self-alienation, has evolved into the most highly refined form of alienation from others as well. The Color-Confrontation theory views all of the present battle­grounds in the world as vivid reflections of this reality; the destructive and aggressive behavioral patterns being displayed by white peoples towards all non-white peoples is evidence of the inner hate, hostility and rejection they feel towards themselves and of the depth of self-alienation that has evolved from the genetic and psychological kernel of color inadequacy.

The mass inability of whites to live and attend school in the presence of non-whites is expressed in the patterns of Black and white housing and education throughout this country and the world. In terms of the Color-Confrontation thesis, this inability is seen as the apparent psychological discomfort experienced by whites in situations where, in confronting their neighbors of color, they must face their color inadequacy daily. Also, the myth of white superiority is exploded in the presence of equitable social and economic opportunity. The white personality, in the presence of color, can be stabilized only by keeping Blacks and other non-whites in obviously inferior positions. The situation of mass proximity to Blacks is intolerable to whites because Blacks are inherently more than equal. People of color always will have something highly visible that whites never can have or produce — the genetic factor of color. Always, in the presence of color, whites will feel genetically inferior.

The difficulty whites have in according non-whites socio-political and economic equality within the white supremacy structure stems neither from a moral issue nor from political or economic need, but from the fundamental sense of their own unequal condition - in regards to their numerical inadequacy and color deficiency. They can compensate for their color inadequacy only by placing themselves in socially superior positions. The color inadequacy of whiteness necessitates a social struc­ture based on white superiority. Only tokenism can be tolerated by such a motivational psychological state, wherein the evolution of the myth of the exceptional non-white is used, again, as a defense mechanism.

The thrust towards superiority over peoples of color, the drive towards material accumulation, the drive towards a technological culture and the drive towards power are all cornerstones of the universal white supremacy culture, and they are viewed - in terms of the Color-Confrontation thesis - as responses to the core psychological sense of inadequacy. This inadequacy is not measured in terms of infant size as compared with that of the adult, as postulated by Alfred Adler. Rather, it is an inadequacy rooted in the inability to produce melanin. This genetic state is, in actuality, a variant of albinism.

The Color-Confrontation theory further postulates that whites are vulnerable to their sense of numerical inadequacy. This inadequacy is apparent in their drive to divide the vast majority of non-whites into fractional, as well as frictional, minorities. This is viewed as a funda­mental behavioral response of whites to their own minority status. The white "race" has structured and manipulated their own thought processes and conceptual patterns, as well as those of the entire non-white world majority, so that the real numerical minority (whites) illusionally feels and represents itself as the world's majority, while the true numerical majority (non-whites) illusionally feels and views itself as the minority. Interest­ingly, the white collective, whenever discussing the question of color, never discusses any of its own particular ethnic groups as minorities, but constantly focuses on the various ethnic, language and religious groups of non-white peoples as minorities. Then great efforts are made to initiate conflict between these arbitrary groups. This is one of the key methods by which a minority can remain in power. The "divide, frictionalize and conquer" pattern, observable throughout history wherever non-whites are confronted by whites, results primarily from whites' sense of color deficiency and secondarily from their sense of numerical inadequacy. This pattern, then, is a compensatory adjustment to permit psychological comfort through dominance and control." [MORE]