Lucy

It's easy to feel at a loss on how best to proceed as a white parent of a mixed child. I knew that my daughter was going to face discrimination and experiences in life that I had not been affected by and that I wanted to be able to protect her from. Sarah helped me to see that I was not going to be able to protect my child from the world, but that I could ready myself to acknowledge the things she faced and offer her my loving support in facing them. I know now that I cannot fix these things for her, but by telling her I believe her experiences and that I stand by her, she will know that she is loved, seen and respected.

The Mixed Bloom Room also reignited the spark of optimism that I felt about her mixedness when she was born. She has two cultures to draw from; she has two passports! There is so much opportunity and celebration to be had in her life and I have a duty to explore both of her cultures with her so that she can take full advantage of her position.

The whole experience has been really useful to me as a starting point towards what is going to be a life long process of learning and trying to be better. As much as I wanted the course to end with a gold star and a pat on the back to say the work was done, it was clear throughout the course that this was the beginning of the journey. I appreciated the planning work we did in the final week as we explored how to move forward after the course ended.

Sarah was honest, supportive and challenging throughout and I could feel the love and care for my daughter throughout the course. She recommended books and other resources to support my ongoing antiracism journey.