Not that I want to make my blog all about the things kids say, but...
I forced my eight year old to watch part of the inauguration today. Told him it is history in the making, and he will be glad later on that he saw it. It is the first black president.
He gave me an odd look. "He's not black!"
His brother agreed. "He is only half and half. He is like me."
"Ok," I said, "but his wife is black, so it is still history - the first black person to be in the White House." Trying to get him to be quiet and pay attention.
He did pay attention, rapt attention. He wanted to see the President's wife. He waited and waited. Then she got out of the car.
Disappointment tinged his voice, "Mom! She's not black, either! She is just brown, too."
3 comments:
I completely agree with your children! I still find it strange how Americans define "white" - not even one black person in your ancestry. Everybody else is black even if there is not much color left (physically).
I like hearing what you kids say! They are so very cute...
This is my son who puzzled for most of his second grade why people kept talking about the black kid in his class. He asked me one day, and I told him that Nephi is black.
Black? No. Nephi is brown, sort of a dark brown like coffee beans.
He also didn't understand "white" insisting that we must not see thing right - no one in his class is white, either. The closest is Ola (Polish), and "she is sort of a pinkish light brown."
"We are all just different shades of brown, that is all."
Ah, if only the world could look through the eyes of a second grader!
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