My little man brought home a picture of MLK that he had colored in school on Monday. Martin sported a brown tie, red suit jacket, green hair, and--!--blue skin.
Xavier used to be too busy to color a picture with more than one color. Now he brings home really colorful ones like the one of MLK. Sometimes I think about the way Xavier colors and how anything is possible in his "little world" (love me some Bob Ross). Who cares that MLK didn't have blue skin and green hair?
We have talked about the color of our skin in our transracial family. One night at dinner, Xavier asked my husband, "Ayah? Why is your skin brown?" Sudhagar and I sat agape (hey, I never use that word, but that is what we were). How do you answer that question to a preschooler? Scientifically? I have no idea why skin pigment has different levels of melanin (isn't that what it's called?). Should I answer it politically correctly? Hell no.
"Because God made Ayah that way and he made you with your skin color and me with my skin color." That was what came out. "Not too shabby," I thought. Xavier nodded and finished his macaroni.
Last week I watched The Help and it left me agape (hey, twice in one post). America has come a long way since then and I don't think I'm being Pollyanna-ish in saying so. I'm glad my son lives in this time and we can talk about the color of our skin and the content of our character. And that goes for anyone with green skin or blue hair, too. Face painting and hair dye make that dream possible :)
Have your little ones asked about skin color or has your family had any interesting discussions on race?
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