In light of the George Zimmerman trial aftermath, The Boy and I both are rethinking how he looks to other people.
This is The Boy just having fun with a couple of bandannas over his face, a couple of weeks ago. But this morning (sans bandannas) an NPR story got us talking about race.
He asked me if he would have gone to a white school or a black school in the 1960s, since he's biracial. Among other things, I replied that he would have gone to a black school... and I could almost hear the realization of what that probably meant sinking into his mind like a stone.
The Boy is doing very well at school here and now... he goes on field trips, he reads the print off the pages of challenging books... But he knows in the 1960s he probably would have been cut off from most of these educational resources. (I didn't even get into how that hasn't changed for many kids who look like him.)
We did talk about how he still has the power to accomplish anything he wants to do, even though it may take longer than he expects, and that he comes from a long line of people who never give up.
Next stop: The Talk, in which I explain to him that the police are not always his friend. Can it wait until he's at least ten years old?
He asked me if he would have gone to a white school or a black school in the 1960s, since he's biracial. Among other things, I replied that he would have gone to a black school... and I could almost hear the realization of what that probably meant sinking into his mind like a stone.
Next stop: The Talk, in which I explain to him that the police are not always his friend. Can it wait until he's at least ten years old?