A mother designed a poster in hopes of helping parents and teachers educate their children about racism.
Taimani Reed from Portland, Oregon, is a photographer, brand designer and illustrator.
In June, the mother of two launched her project “A is for Ally,” an art collection that teaches the alphabet and words related to bullying.
“I don’t know how to talk to my kids,” Reed said in “Good Morning America.”
“I didn’t want to tell him, ‘The world is terrible,’ but I also didn’t want him to grow up without knowing.”
Through his company, Emerald Creative, Reed offers alphabet posters and tote bags.
Her bestseller is the “A is for Ally” poster, which associates each letter in the alphabet with words such as ally, black, colonization, diversity, equality, fragility, gentrification, and more.
She decided on the ABC model because her 3 and 1-year-olds had been practicing their lettering.
“I wanted to make something soft enough to talk about scary subjects,” said Reed.
This artistic mom developed her concept by asking teachers, school principals, and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and colored people) families in the Portland area what words they thought were important to include on the poster.
Reed also collaborated with Lillian Green, a former teacher and founder of “Operation Back to School.”
Green started an organization to honor his sister, Kim Green Ellsworth, who is also a teacher.
This program donates backpacks and school supplies to students in need.
Green will include an “A for Allies” poster in 447 backpacks that will be given to preschoolers, and another 200 will be sent to three local schools, childcare programs, and child care centers.
