CNN.com wrote:
A 5-year-old girl in Georgia is being asked a series of questions in her school library. The girl, who is white, is looking at pictures of five cartoons of girls, all identical except for skin color ranging from light to dark. When asked who the smart child is, she points to a light-skinned doll. When asked who the mean child is she points to a dark-skinned doll. She says a white child is good because "I think she looks like me", and says the black child is ugly because "she's a lot darker." As she answers her mother watches, and gently weeps. Her daughter is taking part in a new CNN pilot study on children's attitudes on race and her answers actually reflect one of the major findings of the study, that white children have an overwhelming bias toward white, and that black children also have a bias toward white but not nearly as strong as the bias shown by the white children.
I have to say this is consistent with my experience. Race was always a topic of discussion in my minority, immigrant community, and when I was a child I had the perception that blonde and white was good, an ideal. When I married Joph, I conversationally brought up race to Jr. while at the Smithsonian one day (the lunch counter exhibit), and I remember feeling inhibited but obligated to bring the subject up to put that counter into context. Jr. and I have much more open conversations about race nowadays, but I am consistently surprised by his absorption of others' prejudices and assumptions, and I try consistently to clarify his perceptions and fight against the perception of "the other". I do think it is possible to respect and admire another's culture while knowing we all in essence want the same things for our own and our families' lives.
What were your first experiences with race?
When I was thirteen after dance practice, I was asked to ride in the back of a woman's car, but "not touch" her daughter. She wanted to know where I was from, and when I told her, she laughed. The whole ride home, the two ladies in the front seat commented on my appearance, and what language they must speak in wherever I was from, if I spoke English at all. They talked about me like I wasn't there, and the lady's daughter looked at me all embarrassed but wouldn't hold my hand. I thought they were ******** with me. I knew the U.S., all the countries in Europe and the Americas, their capitals. I was educated to know about not just my country, but the world. I was well-traveled, and these hicks who had never been out of VA were laughing at me. I remember getting home and feeling just icky and impotent and crying. My mother said that they were just being ignorant, and that some people just were and I shouldn't take it to heart. This was my big race talk.
Edited, May 18th 2010 9:07pm by Atomicflea