Hi, i was wondering what you think of what seems to be a bit of a worrying trend of people claiming to be victims of prejudices that they have yet to experience. I've seen it on a few threads here and recently came across 2 specific examples. Maybe I'm reading into this but I find it a bit concerning.
First example - my 9yr old DS recently befriended a child in the year above through an activity, this child is 11 as far as I know. He told my son recently that he is gay and my boy was a bit surprised as he didn't think a child could be gay. We have always been very open with him, like some people are, some people aren't and never made a big deal of it. We don't specifically have a gay friend or family member but one of his pals has 2 mums so it was normal for him from a young age. But this kid asks him if he still wants to be friends, and tells him that he is part of the LBTQ+ community and that many people don't approve of them. He said his community is discriminated against and hated. My boy came home quite bewildered, asking why would a person not like a gay person, SHOULD I not like him anymore because he is gay?? I feel his mind was poisoned into thinking in a prejudiced way by the very person claiming to be prejudiced against. Also I live in a very liberal area, and this child is 11 FFS, not even at puberty so i sincerely doubt he has any negative experience, it sounds to me like he is on some online forum possibly USA based.
The second example was in a childcare facility where I work. Its a really mixed racial / cultural area and concerns a child who is of a minority background (I'm being intentionally vague here) but this would be the most prominent minority in the area, if that makes sense. This child, age 4 was talking to 2 boys of the same age, 1 of the same ethnic background as him. They were talking about an upcoming event, I dont know exactly but he says "they might not let us brown boys do it". I obviously don't know what goes on in his life but he is 4! The parent of the 3rd boy raised a concern, her child was taken aback asking why on earth would brown boys not be allowed? Again, the seed of prejudice was sown to a totally innocent child. And who knows what the 2nd poor child thought. It wasn't in my room so I am not involved but it just struck me as a really negative thing. He is so young so obviously this is coming from an adult or older child, he is looking for discrimination. This child is now inadvertantly using his perceived racism as a form of intimidation, for example staff are worried if he is last at a task that he will say its cos he is "brown". I would be very surprised if this type of racism is around where I live, as I say its very liberal and mixed but in fairness, I am of the majority culture and I appreciate we don't always see things.
Anyone have a similar experience of this type of behaviour or how to deal with it? Is it a bit of a trend? Or am I overly reading into 2 random experiences?