White Privilege

I find it hard to come to grips with the fact that my 4 year old niece already has developed some stereotypes. She, living with my very conservative brother-in-law and my equally conservative sister, has probably already encountered stereotypes from them. Ideas that illegal immigrants are undesirable people stealing away our jobs, that poor people are scary and dangerous, and the myriad of stereotypes about other cultures. She probably has even begun to equate whiteness with value. I'd like to say that these things are not true, but I saw it even as I visited this Christmas. She has no friends to speak of who are from other races and she has all of the privilege that goes along with white middle class life. On top of that, her dad likely has passed on the idea that everyone can pull themselves up "by their bootstraps"; not a bad idea in itself but far from the harsh reality of inequality.
She undoubtedly already has gender stereotypes as well. She loves to watch Disney movies, which are full of gender stereotypes and she values "looking pretty". Even as I visited I saw her parade around and "strut her stuff" as best a 4 year old can do. It pains me to see her affected by the constant sexualization of our children. I worry about her future; will she be taught from a multicultural perspective in school? Will she come to tolerate and eventually move on to accepting and even cherishing those whose cultures are often belittled in this country? It reminds me that I owe it to the children I teach to show them that America is not just for the white man, and that history is not dominated by his influence. would I want any less for my niece? I worry because, by age 9, she will have developed a full set of ideas about the world. Will she be one of her generation who works for change? Or will she resist making America into what it has always claimed to be?