I was just reading this blog post and decided I had something to say, so here it is.
I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but in my little naive world I tend to forget about color. When they announced that that Barack Obama won and "this is history in the making" I was confused. After all, it's not like we haven't had a president before and while yes, it's been a long time since we've had a democrat it certainly isn't the first time. After a moment it hit me...oh, that's right! He is black/bi-racial. I had totally forgotten.
I really rarely think about color and you see, in my daughter's world we are all brown. We're all just different shades. She and I tend to be pretty fair skinned so she calls us very light brown, my husband works outdoors in the summer and gets pretty tan so he's brown and well, I think you get it. I love the way she views color. The color of someone's skin is no different than the color of someone's clothes. And it isn't at all unusual to her that people in the same family can be drastically different colors. My hope is that she always views color the way she does today.
Pressed Leaf Star Garland
8 years ago
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3 comments:
Once upon a time, L. and his then best friend J. (who is black) were playing with each other in Potter, right before their class started. They had been friends for several months at that point. Suddenly L. pointed out to J. that he was brown. J. looked at his skin and said, "No, I'm black." L. replied, "No you're not. This (a black car!) is black... YOU are brown. And I'm white brown." J. cracked up at this observation and said, "I'm still black!" L. said, "You're chocolate brown."
And then they were done with this subject and went on to play. L. still misses J. to this day. J. truly was his first real friend, and L. is sad, that they quit VH.
I was thinking about this same thing on Tuesday. I tried to express to my children that this inauguration was very important, but I almost didn't want to explain why. I didn't want to have to explain that we've never had a president with brown skin (my kids use that phrase, too!) or why it matters to anyone at all. They don't know a world where skin color matters, either. Not yet.
I am totally with you, Rachel. My daughter was playing on the computer while the inauguration was on. I pointed out the kids and their grandmother and mother. She actually asked if the caucasion woman walking in front of the kids was their mom.
When the swearing in started I had her watch it, telling her that it was important but not why. I like that she doesn't know yet. I think I'd like to hold on to that as long as I can.
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