There has been a good deal of ink spilled over the Time cover, "Is Your Baby Racist?". Much has been made of the contentions of the authors, for good reason, but after reading the article I have two observations that I think have not been made due to the outrage surrounding the article itself.
My youngest two children spent their K-6 years being homeschooled in what might be considered a multicultural haven. We have a very diverse neighborhood and many times my kids were the only white kids at our house. Not to put to fine a point on it, but their best friends in 6th and 7th grade, respectively, were not white.
We didn't spend a lot of time discussing race issues at our house. If it came up, it came up. If it didn't, who cared? One of the ideas behind the article is that we all need to talk about race, differences, and inclusion to make it happen. I never did and we had a virtual politically correct Saturday morning cartoon of races represented here on any given Sunday.
That gradually changed to some extent as soon as I sent my kids to public school. Some of their friends went to another junior high. Some of their friends continued to home school. Perhaps instead of it being the parents, it's the school and the other kids and their attitudes that influence these things. Perhaps your group is simply those you spend the most time with?
Certainly we all say we want our kids to be colorblind and not notice race, but to judge people by the content of their character and treat them accordingly. It's most assuredly what I wanted to achieve as a parent, but given the context of the culture we live in today could that end up to be partially a bad thing for my kids and their friends? It was tonight.
My daughter and one of her best buddies from the cheer team, still in their cheer outfits from the volleyball game, were in dining room making posters. Not that it should make any difference, her friend is black. But it did make a difference, you see. My son walked in the back door, saw them working on their posters, and joked, "We don't want your kind here!!"
As my two kids laughed at my son's joke, the look on the friend's face was amazingly awful. For a few agonizing seconds, she had absolutely no idea he was talking about cheerleaders. They had absolutely no clue, until I pointed it out to them later, that she didn't immediately realize it was a cheerleader joke.
She did nothing wrong. They did nothing wrong, but it's something I'm going to be thinking about for quite some time. I don't want my kids to spend their lives tip-toeing through a minefield, worrying how people will take every comment. On the other hand, I don't want them accidentally hurting other's feelings because they're completely oblivious to the fact that there are possible mines to be stepped on.
I recently read the book "Same Kind of Different As Me" about a black man and a white man and their relationship. It really opened my eyes to a lot of things that white people would never even think twice about. If you (generically speaking) have never been black there is no way you could see through their eyes. I also just finished reading the book "Under the Overpass" about two young men to lived homeless for 5 months. Again, my eyes were opened a bit. We are all so quick to judge from our perspective withou all of the information needed to make a judgement. God forgive us. I pray that Kellyn's friend knows Levi would never hurt her because I believe he never would.
I haven't read the article in Newsweek but have read articles relating to it. I just hate the fact that many people actually believe conservatives are racist because they disagree with President Obama's policies. God have mercy on this country.
Posted by: Gran | September 23, 2009 at 09:22 PM
i dont care what you write about....YOU ARE BACK!! YEAH!! I had happened to see who your mother had been reading on her blog...and i saw she had been on your blog...ok she has not forced me to read your blog for an offering lately...but i figured she had "inside info" and was not like me and check the guillotine daily...ugh!!
For the last year i have been sitting with two black single parent women and a swinger...wow! Well i do not know all God is doing in my life and confess i am in the biggest crisis of faith in my life...but one thing i have become is more loving to those i do not agree with...and this whole health care reform has my interest...as i have not had medical insurance since i went on insulin and lost my bus job for going on insulin (federal law...and a good one!). But no insurance company will touch me and if they will it is way way too expensive or they eliminate any body part affected by diabetes...well...duh! so here i sit with mostly right wing conservative white friends opposed to health care reform...but one thing i have learned ... "Where you stand on an issue depends usually on where you sit"...God give us your eyes to see as You see and not by our upbringing, traditions or religious eyes!! sorry to write a book...wish we could just sit down and have a good long talk!
Welcome back Lana to the blog world!!
love you wilma's daughter!
Posted by: Ron Fisher | September 25, 2009 at 10:20 PM
Ron, there is no doubt we have problems with our health care. I just don't want the government running it. When Bud lost his job at 60 we lost our insurance. I had had cancer so nobody would touch me. We joined Medi-Share which is a Christian group that actually pays pretty well from what I hear. Back to the health care. The kind of problems you and I have need to be addressed and I hope they will just keep it in the private sector not government runned. There is sooo much abuse in Medicare and I am on it but there is still abuse. My brother had thousands of $ of stuff that could not be returned that they had brought to his house...just in case he might need it. I could go on and on but since this is Lana's blog I wont. LOL
Posted by: Gran | September 26, 2009 at 01:13 AM
wilma i helped our pharmacy rep at work destroy about 4-5 thousand dollars of very good medicine...that people either no longer needed or they had died...what a waste!!! What gets me is the Republicans are all over the place ranting and raving...where the ______ were they when they had control of the House and Senate and White House...non existent till the Demos started talking about reform...i am sick of the whole bunch and ready to elect people like yourself who still have common sense (amazing at your age really!..ha) and in touch with reality!!
Posted by: Ron Fisher | September 26, 2009 at 01:20 PM