My concern about what’s going on is that children in this generation won’t grow up as my friend and I did. She wasn’t my white friend, and I wasn’t her black friend. We simply grew up as friends and playmates. And whereas, of course, we saw each other’s color (we weren’t blind), it wasn’t a thing to discuss. It wasn’t a topic.
I’m concerned that children today, by their parents’ prodding, are going to see their friends’ skin color and it will be a thing. Not in a negative sense, but in a sense at all. With these parents now “educating” themselves, they will encourage their white children to ask their black friends about their culture. Their background. What it’s like to be black. And I mean…ok, I guess. If kids are naturally curious and ask on their own, that’s one thing. That was always welcomed by my sisters and me. Our friends would ask about our hair and how it stays in those twists like you see in this pic. We never minded that. But that was innocent curiosity. It wasn’t an “I’m trying to educate myself on your culture so that you don’t feel excluded, because I need to make it a point to let you know your black hair and life matter” sort of thing.
I’m concerned children won’t be left to simply be children—free to ask about their black friends’ hair or not care one iota about it.
Our children will grow up making race a thing. And it doesn’t need to be.