Emily Eitzman: Grandpa’s Advice and Raising Good People

When I was a senior in high school, there were a number of racist incidents that occurred in my school district. As I looked around at my classmates, all predominantly of the same race, I saw that the low level of diversity in the school likely played a role in the way some of these kids grew up perceiving the world and those around them.

While I was unable to go back in time and prevent these racist incidents from occurring, I did have the power to look into the future and envision what I wanted to see. I turned my focus away from my high school and directed my attention to the elementary schools, the kindergartens, the preschools. I wanted to change the future, and the future is our children.

While it may be difficult to completely diversify a undiversified school district, we can diversify what the kids in these cities grow up seeing through writings, paintings, photographs, and more. I wanted to do what I could to ensure young kids who may not interact with many individuals who look differently than they are still aware of the differences that exist in appearances, lifestyles, names, and more. I wanted to bring diversity to the kids in an art form.

So, I created Raising Good People. My goal is to help combat some of the racist ideologies that are fed into the minds of our youth by promoting beautiful, impactful picture books and exposing our youth to diverse arrays of children’s stories, illustrations, and authors.

Grandpa’s Advice is a children’s book I published highlighting my interracial family. Upon reading the story, kids have asked me about the “Brown mom” and the “White dad.” My heart has become so full knowing that I am playing a small role in helping these kids understand that we can all have deep love for each other regardless of our skin color. This is just one example of the power children’s books have on our youth and on our future.

Raising Good People: Every child must see themselves in their books. Every child must see a diverse range of characters in their books. Every author must have opportunities to share their books.