What my son said that day unfortunately reinforced what research has long shown: children absorb racial biases from their environment. I study racial socialization—the ways children learn about race and racism—and I know how early these biases form. I also know that talking about race and racism can shape how children perceive others. Yet when white parents tell me their children say things like “Black people are not nice” or “I don’t want to play with Black kids,” they also tell me they ignore what their children said or simply tell their children it was mean. Without a real conversation about why their child might think that way or how to counter those ideas, children don’t unlearn bias; they just learn not to say it out loud.