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Telling the story of racism in America

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12 months ago

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The Boozer family in Juneau in 1999. From right to left, Natasha’s father Carlos Sr., her mother Renée, sisters Nakeisha and Natanya, Natasha pictured in the middle of her two brothers Carlos Jr. and Charles. Carlos Sr. worked as a computer analyst for the Alaska Department of Labor and  Renée was an executive assistant for the U.S. Forest Service.

Natasha Boozer’s family is well known in Juneau. Her younger brother, Carlos, grew up to play professional basketball and win an Olympic Gold medal in 2008.

Today, Natasha is carving out her own success as a writer in Las Vegas, where she homeschools her children. The lessons, she says, include important conversations about racism and what it means to be Black in America.

Natasha Boozer homeschools her children and believes it’s important for Black parents to talk with their children about the history of racism in America. Photo by Natasha Boozer.

In this week’s program from the Black Awareness Association of Juneau, she talks with Christina Michelle about the current debate over Critical Race Theory.

Natasha Boozer with her husband O’neil Cassells, who is an immigrant from Jamaica. Boozer says they often encourage their children, Grace and Moses, to be proud of their race and heritage. Boozer is currently working on a book about growing up Black in Juneau, a community with very few African Americans.

Culture Rich Conversations airs on Thursdays at 3:00 p.m. on KTOO Juneau 104.3.  You can hear the  rebroadcast at 7:00 p.m. and also listen online at ktoo.org.

 

 

Guests: Natasha Boozer, author of The Palmer Women.
Natasha Boozer says Black parents need to talk with their children about the history of racism in America and how to protect themselves against it — a subject too important to trust to the schools alone, which rarely do a good job of telling the whole story.  In this conversation with Christina Michelle, Boozer explains why Critical Race Theory, if widely understood, could help to heal racism in our country.
Natasha Boozer says she and her husband have shared their experiences with racism with their son, Moses, to prepare him for what he might encounter in the world.  She believes it’s important for children to recognize racism, understand its history and know how to respond to it. And for young Black males, she says, it can sometimes be a matter of life and death.

 

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