race and the 4 year old
Apr. 16th, 2008 02:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fleaLast night Casper and I were watching American Idol when a Barack Obama commercial came on. She watched and the said aloud, "Barack Obama." I said, "He's running for president." She said, "But he's BROWN!" I replied something like, "Yes, so he is." Then a beat while I tried to think of something more affirming to say, and I came out with, "Daddy and I like his ideas and are thinking about voting for him."
I swear, if the kid would ask me about how babies are made, I would be just fine, but nooooo, it's got to be race and gender and class and stuff. I tried to respond to "But he's BROWN!" with the same neutral "there are all kinds of people" tone I use when she says things like, "That man is SO HAIRY!" or "Why does he have woman hair?"
I just feel so unprepared for parenthood sometimes.
I swear, if the kid would ask me about how babies are made, I would be just fine, but nooooo, it's got to be race and gender and class and stuff. I tried to respond to "But he's BROWN!" with the same neutral "there are all kinds of people" tone I use when she says things like, "That man is SO HAIRY!" or "Why does he have woman hair?"
I just feel so unprepared for parenthood sometimes.
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Date: 2008-04-16 08:53 pm (UTC)DH almost lost it yesterday on a field trip w/ LB: LB had cut-up watermelon for his lunch and offered some to his friend C (who, incidentally, is African-American), saying "Oh C, I know you love watermelon, have some of mine," to which C replied "Thanks [LB], you know I love watermelon!"
Neither of them, of course, knew anything about the stereotype, while I had friends in college who refused to eat watermelon in the cafeteria for fear of playing into it.