A new magazine teaches kids to appreciate the differences.
It was an audacious idea. As a Black woman with biracial children, Alexandria Scott (BA ’08) had experienced racism firsthand, and she wanted to help her own children and others learn to grow up without bias toward others. Why not launch a children’s magazine?
Never mind that Scott graduated in political science and had no practical publishing experience. She started working with illustrators and graphic designers on the logo and layout and answering emails during spare moments when her children played or napped. “I taught myself InDesign. I found a printer. I figured out how to print and publish things and found an accountant and then a lawyer,” says Scott.
In between busy moments, she doubted. “I just kept thinking to myself, ‘Do people want this?’ I would go back and forth, but then I’d think, ‘No, there are so many people out there who want to teach their kids and just need a little help.’” She was right. Her Kickstarter campaign was funded in less than three weeks and later surpassed its goal by close to $20,000.
Her hope for the magazine—called Ditto Kids—is simple: “I want my kids and every kid and adult who reads the magazine to really learn that changing is a good thing. Humility is an incredible gift, and it’s a hard one to develop, but it’s what we all need to create the type of change . . . we all want to see in our communities.”
Launching the magazine in late 2020, Scott has drawn on her own experiences as a Black woman and a mother. Each issue begins with a section on self-love and self-respect. “You can’t really love other people until you love yourself,” says Scott. She wants the kids and adults who read the magazine to see that “they are unique and incredibly special and—guess what?—their friend over there is too.” The magazine also offers advice and information to help children recognize and address unfairness or inequity.
“I don’t want to ever put kids in the position where they feel like they are here to save the world. That’s our job as adults,” says Scott. “But they are going to be in school and playing on the playground, and they might see or hear something that is unfair or racist. And in that moment they might be able to step up and help a friend.”
The Ditto Kids logo depicts two children holding hands. Scott says, “Ditto means ‘me too.’ . . . When you’re getting to know somebody else, you realize pretty quickly that we have a lot of differences that we can celebrate, but we have a lot of similarities as well.” As she prepares the second issue of the magazine to be printed and shipped, Scott says the message to children comes down to the basics: “to be loved and give love, to learn to play and grow and make friends, and recognize what makes each of them special. Every child can say ‘ditto’ to that!”
