Martin Luther King

This blog is not going to be as lively as my previous entries but it is going to be sensitive.  I hope this would be a moment to remember as a mother and for you, whether a mother or not, to resonate with me.  I also hope that if you have suggestions or feedback, please share it with me.   As I was driving home from DSD tonight, as I mentioned in my last blog, Neva is the talker in the car.  Neva signed ML starting from the shoulder to the hip. To be quite honest, I never imagined she would understand the story of MLK, the complexities of segregation and all that because after all, she has not yet noticed that she is white and she is 5 years old.  I had to ask her to repeat before my suspicion was confirmed.  I have thought of discussing this before with Neva but decided to allow her to be color-blind for as long as possible until the day she notices something amiss.  Some of you may or may not agree but I felt that I wanted to savor her innocence and be "race-free" (I know that word does not exist but how to quite explain that?). 

DSD has a wonderful after school program where students could stay and develop social skills with other students (K-5th grade) and participate in activities.  Today was the Literacy program where someone would sign books out loud (themes) and activities that really vary.  When Neva signed MK, I eventually figured out she was talking about Martin Luther King, Jr.  Then she described in detail the events that had occurred and even included that someone shot him.  I was, at first, squeamish, about the fact she understood that a leader was shot dead.  Naturally, like any mother, I wanted to shield her away from violence or anything that appears to be threatening.  She was talking about some white people taking equality away from “black people” and now they are equal.  It was just so WEIRD to see Neva talking like that, because…I do not know, maybe I still think she is too young to worry about those kinds of things.  But then again, it is just me.  However, the more she talked, the more I was proud of how well she learned the lesson because she very much spelled equality out. 

Tonight she colored her book and showed this to me and I found this interesting!  After a couple of hours after discussing this topic, we did a lot of different things at home and before bed, I allowed her time to draw, write, read or whatever.  She chose to color and this was what she did.  

So obviously, one picture consisted of a "white" Barney and another consisted of a "black Barney and Neva was conscious about it.  WOW.   I just think that this is really sensitive and did not expect this to surface until a bit little later.   But since this information is very important to incorporate in her life, I think I did not expect it to occur so early but if the time has arrived, it has arrived.  So if any of you have experiences of how to share this with your children or students or whatever, please feel free to share here.