K.
I have no idea what to tell you - there are bigoted people everywhere, I guess. We are personally in the interview process for childcare providers in our area and are considering mostly black/hispanic people because that's who lives in our neighborhood. That said, I think a concern for many upper class white parents is the education level of their child's care providers and the sharing of parenting values. Stereotypes prevail, and it's hard for a lot of parents to imagine that a black/hispanic person's cultural norms are similar enough to their own. We (as parents) worry about whether the care provider will raise our children with the same values that we think are important, will discipline in the same way, will read to our kids, will love our kids. We worry about whether our kids will be in an environment and a culture that is similar to what we grew up in. Sometimes it's hard for us to envision this taking place, given many of the cultural stereotypes that exist between black/hispanic/white communities.
If you have never been a parent who had to leave their kid in the care of someone outside the family, you can't imagine how difficult, stressful, and agonizing choices about childcare providers are for us. I can honestly say that finding childcare that we are happy with is THE SINGLE MOST DIFFICULT thing about having kids.
I'm not making excuses, simply pointing out some of the concerns of parents.
