Poor L has an educator as a mama, this means she will be the primary source of information for all things to be researched.
During this very heated election season I took the implicit bias test, and while I don't believe the results can be entirely accurate when one is clicking sides of their smart phone screen, it said I prefer light skinned people. This made me wonder, if most of us white people have this bias, when do we acquire/learn it?
Perfect example, L goes to church with me on Sundays. We both hang out with either the infants and toddlers, or the older children. There were two older boys, about 10, at church the Sunday following the election. L has met both before, one she has seen since birth, the other just a few Sundays. The boy she has seen since birth is very dark skinned, the other is white with dark hair. The boys had a balloon they were sharing with L. They threw it to her and she would throw it back. Both boys were begging her to throw it to them, in much the same manner. I thought it would be interesting to stand back and see who she threw the balloon to. Her first throw went to the white boy that she didn't know very well, disappointing her mama and making her wonder if she had already somehow learned this bias. I calmed my head and continued to observe. The next seven throws were to the black boy that she had seen at church since day one. Clearly, she has not learned this skin color bias at 18 months.
The question is: When will she learn it, if she learns it at all?
A friend of mine just shared that she had a hard time finding a baby doll that looked like her 3.5 year old daughter because most are blonde haired and blue eyed.
As time goes on, will L learn from society that she is superior as a white woman? I certainly hope not! I will keep updating as I observe her behavior.