SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. — A Summerside business owner made some special deliveries to P.E.I. childcare centres last week.
Shawna Perry, owner of Little Black Dress on Water Street, began delivering children’s books about diversity and inclusion to daycares across the Island on June 29.
“I have a five-year-old boy and a one-and-a-half-year-old girl and I talk to them about everything,” said Perry.
“Everything” included the death of George Floyd, a black Minnesota man killed by Minneapolis police on May 29.
“Whenever I told him about what happened to George Floyd and that people of different races aren’t treated as equal, as a five-year-old he was really taken aback. He was shocked and he got really emotional.”
Perry’s children attend daycare with children and staff with a variety of racial backgrounds.
“They’ve been exposed to that (diversity) since they were babies,” she said.
Perry opened her shop in January 2020. Just weeks later, like many small businesses in P.E.I., she had to close during the early days of the coronavirus (COVID-19 strain) pandemic.
But then, when she was finally able to re-open, rather than scramble to get back in the black, she was still thinking of George Floyd.
“I had been planning on hosting a sale here for a while anyways, but I was going to keep the proceeds for the business. Then, I just decided this is something that’s important to me and it’s something I want to do,” she said.
She plunged ahead, deciding to put 100 per cent of the proceeds to children’s books.
In just two hours, Perry’s sale raised more than $500.
“It was a great turnout. I was so emotional the whole morning. Some people didn’t even buy anything, they just came and were like ‘I don’t need anything but here’s $20.’ It was so emotional,” she said.
“It doesn’t seem like much, but I think it could have a big impact going forward in the future maybe. If these young minds start hearing the different terminology this young, it could impact their futures, I hope.”
Growing up, Perry wasn’t exposed to many people from other cultures, and she doesn’t remember learning about diversity. She does remember the first few books she read, though. They were Dr. Seuss stories.
“My son who’s five, he’ll be going to kindergarten this fall. He’s like a little sponge, like I’m sure most kids are. He soaks in almost everything he reads or watches on TV and – I don’t know – I knew I wanted to keep talking more to him about it and keep nurturing him about it.
“I thought a lot more kids should hear these things and read these things now and start early,” said Perry.
So, she ordered 40 books for young readers. When they arrived, she and her staff divided them up to go to daycares from Souris to Tignish.
“Unfortunately, we can’t give them to every daycare, but we wanted to make sure that they are evenly dispersed throughout the whole Island,” she said.
“It doesn’t seem like much, but I think it could have a big impact going forward in the future maybe. If these young minds start hearing the different terminology this young, it could impact their futures, I hope.”
