After I finished my presentation this morning, a 4th-grade student who had been in the front row came up to me and tugged my sleeve.
HIM: Can I tell you something?
ME: Sure!
He leaned in close and I bent down so he could whisper in my ear…
HIM: I’m African!
ME: (excited) You ARE? That’s wonderful. What part of Africa are you from?
HIM: (still speaking softly) Senegal.
ME: Wow! Tu parles francais aussi? (I had spoken a little French earlier in my presentation)
HIM: Yes.
ME: And do you speak Wolof as well?
HIM: (with a small smile) Yes.
ME: Wow–that means you can speak THREE languages. Good for you!
And then another child tugged at my arm and I tried to answer everyone else’s questions before my time was up. I never have to wonder why I do what I do, why I write what I write…
So cool!
What magic!
I left the school feeling sad about that encounter–he clearly wanted to share his identity, but learned (likely from taunting) that he couldn’t safely identify as African. So much work to do….
It’s the small moments…
It is sad. My cousin lives out in Cali with three small children. The oldest is a beautiful dark skinned boy in a white school and he is struggling to be accepted…at 8! He told his father he wish he had married a white woman so he wouldn’t be so dark. Talk about heart breaking….
Are we really still dealing with these issues in 2012?
Ouch…attending all-white schools is a double-edged sword; I got an outstanding education, but being the only brown face was HARD. And contributed to me fleeing and permanently avoiding all-white environments….I hope they get back to ATL frequently!
They’re moving to DC this summer.
It’s mind boggling…even though these kids may not be groomed to be racist at home, are the messages they get from media enough to color their ideas of race and ethnicity at such a young age???
Incidentally, yesterday was International Mother Language Day. Did you see this? http://tvoparents.tvo.org/article/tvoparents-book-club-books-first-languages