Raising White Resisters: Studying the Development of Anti-Racist White Children and Youth

This article presents a developmental model of anti-racism among White children and youth. The model is informed by a structural-psychological framework which situates the development of anti-racism as inseparable from the structures and systems that uphold racial inequality. In articulating the processes by which children and early adolescents move toward becoming anti-racists, the model emphasizes foundational abilities (e.g., socio-cognitive and moral development), a developing sense of self and society (e.g., recognition of racism, understanding of White privilege), and the importance of anti-racism action (e.g., interpersonal and collective action) and promotive contexts (e.g., ethnic-racial socialization, critical consciousness). The paper concludes with a research mandate for developmental scholars studying the development of anti-racism among White children and youth.