This article explores why white teachers and parents tend to be reluctant to talk to children about race and racism, why white parents and teachers should overcome their resistance to doing so, and what potential models might help open such conversations. Many black families report holding explicit discussions with their children about race, privilege, discrimination, and relationships between members of different ethnic groups. Little research evidence of a parallel ethnic socialization process for white children exists. Failing to acknowledge race with children increases the probability that white children, especially, will recognize discussions of race as off-limits with adults, will infer that whiteness is normative, and will harbor stereotypical interpretations of the cultural differences they do, in fact, observe. Discussions of race also validate the perceptions that children of color hold and help disrupt the quiet discriminatory practices otherwise occurring without adult mediation. Some suggestions for fostering responsive read-aloud settings that open conversations about race and prevent the damaging silence are discussed.