The racialisation of religious identity on school playgrounds is deeply troubling.
“Muslim” has become shorthand for anyone with brown skin, regardless of their background. The acceptable face of racism. “Christian” means a white person.
Our own children come home with such ideas. Despite us having non-white friends and family members they know to be Christian, these ideas emphasised by friends at school are all persuasive.
All brown people are Muslim, even if they claim to be Christian. All white people are Christian even if they claim to be Muslim. And there is no more complexity to the world.
Do adults reinforce these ideas at home, or is this purely playground mythology, passed on from child to child? We find it utterly bizarre, listening to the claims of our children, which are so at odds with their lived experience.
The power of the playground in full force.
Last modified: 11 October 2016
