New host Andre Dukes sits down with Early Risers’ founding host Dianne Haulcy to reflect on the origins of this podcast. Just days after the murder of George Floyd, Haulcy penned a wakeup call to her peers in early childhood education on the realities of racism and implicit bias in how we raise our children. That message ultimately became Haulcy’s personal call to action, and the foundation for the Early Risers podcast. Haulcy shares her favorite podcast episodes and offers advice to Dukes as he takes the reins. We also learn about Dukes’ uniquely personal connection to the location where George Floyd lost his life, nearly 50 years earlier, well before it became George Floyd Square.

Dianne Haulcy
Former Host, Early Risers
Assistant Commissioner, Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families

Following the killing of George Floyd, early childhood leader Dianne Haulcy wrote a blogpost in which she called on colleagues and peers to wake up to the realities of racism and implicit bias in how we raise and teach our children. That message planted the seed for Early Risers, a podcast about racial equity in early childhood and the hope of raising a generation who will bring a new dawn of racial equity for the future. Dianne hosted Early Risers until 2024, when she was appointed Assistant Commissioner of Early Childhood at the Minnesota Department of Children Youth and Families.

• How Children’s Books can be Tools for Resistance: A Conversation with Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
• We Are the Same and We Are Different; How to Talk about Diversity with White Kids in White Communities Louise Derman-Sparks
• What If All the Kids Are White?: Anti-Bias Multicultural Education with Young Children and Families by Louise Derman-Sparks
• Understanding Racial Identity in Young Children Dr. Toni Sturdivant
• Navigating Parenthood as Black Parents in a Growing Minnesota City Kai and James Miller

What if, before you learned to read, you learned to ask questions? Faith Rogow calls it a “habit of inquiry,” and tells Dianne it’s more important now than ever. That’s because the explosion of media can be confusing, overwhelming and reinforce racial stereotypes. Little learners CAN become critical thinkers. Dr. Rogow says never take media - from books to apps - at face value. Instead, ask open-ended questions to start conversations - about race and everything else.

Episode Resources:

Media Literacy for Young Children: Teaching Beyond the Screen Time Debates (NAEYC, 2022)

Faith Rogow’s MEDIA LITERACY EDUCATION blogsite

Content Creator’s Guide to Media Literacy blogpost by Faith Rogow

Webinars featuring Faith Rogow from Early Childhood Investigations Webinars

Video: Critical Media Literacy Conference of the Americas

Discussion Guide: Early Risers Season 6 Episode 7 Discussion Guide

If you thought experiments about race were a thing of the past, Sylvia Perry has news for you. In her social psychology lab at Northwestern University, she’s trying to figure out where racial bias comes from. She is finding that talking about race with children decreases prejudice. She tells Dianne how her career was shaped by her own upbringing as a Black girl in the rural South, and she offers guidance for caregivers on how to lead these conversations, including sharing examples of how she’s helped her own Black son take pride in his heritage.

Episode Resources:

Talking to your kids about race can reduce bias, a Northwestern professor found, a radio story from WBEZ Chicago

Sylvia Perry: Understanding and Encouraging White American Parent-child Conversations about Race, a video from the Center for the Science of Moral Understanding

Disrupting Racism and Bias at Home, at School, and at Work, an article from Northwestern University’s Institute for Policy Research

Discussion Guide: Early Risers Season 6 Episode 6 Discussion Guide