Instead, we put Mark’s day off to use by completing our move to a new apartment. A few days after the fact I attempted to right my wrongs of having overlooked Civil Rights Day by explaining the purpose to Sage. I told her the reason Daddy got work off was because it’s a special day when we want to remember to be nice to everyone. I told her there was a time in our country when people didn’t treat dark-skinned people very well because some people didn’t think these black people were as good as the people with white skin. I gave her a [very brief] description of the Civil War, anti-segregation efforts, and concluded with how MLK Jr. taught that dark skinned people are just as good as people with white skin.
At the end of my story, Sage’s eyes got very wide and she said, “Mom, I have the darkest skin in our family!” Then she reached out and grabbed my arm and said with wonder, “And I have the longest hair in our family, so I’m different, too!” I saw those little wheels turning in her head, and placing her—the dark skinned, long-haired anomaly of our family—in the same category as Martin Luther King, Jr.
I wondered if I had done MLK Jr. and Civil Rights Day a disservice by causing a 4-year-old white girl from a middle-class family to view herself as a minority. But since then I’ve wondered if maybe our whole world would be a little more compassionate if everyone had a chance to feel like a minority for a while. So if being the least pale in our family helps Sage recognize the worth of African Americans, elderly, Hispanics, and disabled people, I’ll take it.
Our little minority
11 comments:
Your state calls it Human Rights Day? We just call it Martin Luther King day. Do you also have black history month (February) too?
Nice observation. --Mom
I was also confused by the title. Everywhere else I've lived calls it Martin Luther King day. Why the different name? You moved?
You should have taken a picture of Sage next to Lily-- that really would have made her look dark!
What a good mother you are! But a difficult subject to teach, too :)
Sage has the darkest skin in your family! HA!!!! Maybe that's why she feels persecuted so often (like when you bump against her accidentally). (Not that dark skinned people always do that) We liked seeing the picture of our old tub.
What a good mom you are. I love that Sage notices she is blessed with the dark skin. Poor Lily and Liza...love the picture too!
I love the picture! and Sage is pretty observant I'm surprised she didn't mention her dorito-pigging out aunt
I'm just impressed that you actually took the time to explain the holiday...I'm embarassed to admit that I didn't even think about think about it.
well, she and little yellow micah can be minorities together.
I love Sage so much.
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