• Skin has a little color in it called melanin. Some people have more and others less. That's why there's lighter skin and darker skin. It depends on where a family lived a very, very long time ago: where there's lots of sun, skin learned to have more melanin to protect itself.
• On the inside we're almost the same. Some scientists compared people from all over the world, and found out we're much more alike than we look on the outside. (Rosenberg et al., 2002)
• Nobody chooses their color. Or their hair, or their eyes. That's why nobody is better or worse because of them.
• Talking about colors is okay. Saying «Maya has dark skin» isn't mean. What's mean is teasing or leaving someone out because of it.

1. «Races» aren't what we think. Between 93% and 95% of the differences in DNA are within each population, not between the large groups. (Rosenberg et al., 2002) Skin color is a small difference that's very visible. No color is worth more than another.

2. It's learned very early. What makes the difference is what we learn afterwards: jokes, TV, social media, what's said at home. (Kelly et al., 2005)

3. «Not seeing color» doesn't help. Some kids were taught to «not see color». Afterwards they noticed less when someone was discriminated against because of their color. (Apfelbaum, Pauker, Sommers & Ambady, 2010) Staying silent doesn't help: it needs to be talked about.

4. It comes from a long history. One in four Latin Americans identifies as Afro-descendant, and in several countries they're close to half of those living in extreme poverty. (World Bank, 2018) Phrases like «bad hair» or «improve the race» come from centuries in which light was linked with good and dark with bad.

5. What counts is what you do. Talks change little. What changes things is what you call people, what you share and what you do when you see it. (Forscher, Lai et al., 2019)

1. 1

   «Races» aren't what we think

   When scientists compared the DNA of more than a thousand people from 52 populations around the world, between 93% and 95% of the genetic differences were within each population. Only 3% to 5% separated the large groups. (Rosenberg et al., 2002)

   Two people from the same country can be more different from each other than two people from different continents. Skin color is a small difference that's very visible.

   That doesn't mean racism doesn't exist. It does, and its effects are very real. What doesn't exist is a «race» that's worth more than another.

2. 2

   It's learned very early

   Newborns didn't prefer looking at faces from any group. By three months, they already preferred faces like those of the people who cared for them. (Kelly et al., 2005)

   Paying attention to the familiar is normal. What makes the difference is what we learn afterwards: what's said at the table, what the grown-ups laugh at, what colors appear in books and on TV.

3. 3

   «Not seeing color» doesn't help

   Many parents, with good intentions, tell their children: «There are no colors, we're all the same». It seems like the right thing.

   In one experiment, one group of fourth and fifth graders was taught to «not see color», and another to value differences. Then they saw a scene where a child was discriminated against because of his color. The ones who had learned to «not see color» noticed the discrimination less, and described it in a way that made teachers step in less. (Apfelbaum, Pauker, Sommers & Ambady, 2010)

   Children see colors. If we don't talk to them about it, they don't learn to see when someone is suffering because of theirs.

4. 4

   It comes from a long history

   In Latin America, skin color still weighs. In eight countries in the region, people with darker skin had fewer years of schooling, even when comparing people with similar backgrounds. (Telles, Flores & Urrea-Giraldo, 2015)

   One in four Latin Americans identifies as Afro-descendant. In six countries in the region, they're 38% of the population, but close to half of those living in extreme poverty. (World Bank, 2018) Indigenous peoples are about 8% of the population, but around 14% of the poor. (World Bank, 2015)

   Phrases like «improve the race» or «bad hair» didn't come out of nowhere. They come from centuries of history in which light skin was linked with good and dark skin with bad. We repeat them without knowing it.

5. 5

   Thinking differently isn't enough: what you do matters

   There are lots of talks and courses to «change prejudice». In almost 500 studies, they managed to change a little of what we think without realizing, but they barely changed what we did. (Forscher, Lai et al., 2019) And quick changes faded within hours or days. (Lai et al., 2016)

   That's why this route doesn't ask you to «think nice thoughts». It asks you to change concrete things: what you call people, what you repeat, what you decide and what you do when you see it.