The Challenge Of Raising Kids Of Color In Homogeneous Communities

Last month, Nikki Greene was among many Wellesley residents who saw screen shots of a series of Facebook messages between some Wellesley High School students.

They included vitriolic, hateful language directed at African-Americans and immigrants, with jokes about lynching and genocide. The incident stunned much of the Wellesley community.

Nikki Greene found the content of the messages shocking, but she wasn't entirely surprised. In fact, the incident brought to mind something else that had happened back in 2011. It was a moment that raised the first red flags indicating to Nikki that raising her African-American children in Wellesley was going to come with some challenges.

Nikki Greene, assistant professor of art history at Wellesley College. She teaches and writes about race, feminism and music in modern and contemporary art. She's also a contributor to Cognoscenti, WBUR's ideas and opinions page. She tweets @nikkigphd.