THE ROLE SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL LEARNING PLAYS IN TEACHING WHITE CHILDREN ABOUT RACE. One night when I was in graduate school, I stayed up late talking with a friend. Our conversation meandered from one topic to another, and I ended up telling her about my family: my parents who came to the U.S. from Jamaica, and the Caribbean traditions that shaped my experience growing up Black in America. My friend, who was white, listened with interest. “I’m jealous,” she said. “You have so much culture and tradition. I’m just plain old American.”