 My family is white. My parents had recently returned from a trip to Tanzania where they visited a Masai village. They gave my 2-year old daughter a present of two dolls, a Masai mother and her baby. At the playground the following week, my 4-year old son directs me to look at a child who has brought a light sabre to the playground (My son is really interested in Star Wars.). He says something along the lines of: “Mommy, over there, the Masai with the light sabre.” I look in the direction he’s indicated, it’s a black boy who is holding the light sabre. We discuss the light sabre for a bit and then I ask him why he thought the boy was Masai. He tells me he because he has dark skin. I say: “That’s a good idea. He does have dark skin. But that doesn’t mean he’s Masai. He could be Masai, or he could come from some other part of Africa. Maybe he was born in Africa, or his parents or his grandparents were, or maybe his great great great grandparents did.”
Leigh is a 36-year old white (Jewish) mother from California. Many thanks to her for submitting this story. |
-
-
Recent Posts
-
Popular Posts
- Don’t Matter if You’re Black or White
- “Aunt” or “Ant?” It’s Not a Black and White Issue
- Chinese or Blonde? How About Both?
- Race Discrimination: “Is It My Fault?”
- Black in the Supermarket Checkout Line
- Boy, Am I Glad I’m White!
- Returning Land to the “Brown People”
- The Toddler Color Association Game
- Jordan’s Story
- Neil’s Story
- So….I’m Not White?
- About
- Racial Profiling
- Kate’s Story
- The Color of Peanut Butter
- The Color of Breakfast
- Black and White
- The Sesame Street Connection
- Busing
- Learning Racial Inferiority
Tags
American asian avoiding race biracial Biracial children Black brown brown people brown skin Charlton McIlwain chinese color colorblind cross-racial adoption discrimination diversity hair immigration Jewish Kids on Color KKK learning mixed-race mixed-race couples poverty prejudice race race and school race confusion racial confusion racial identity racial slurs racial stereotypes racism skin color slavery Spanish stereotypes talking about race teaching white white dad white girl white mom white womanArchives
