.."Are you black?"

[X]

so yesterday mi guh pickup mi little one at the pre-school..

Now there is this past neighbour of mine,
Young (probably late 20s early 30s)German dude married to a Polish girl.
While we lived on the same street, they both try to be nice. He's a talker and seems unawaringly naive, she's shy but pleasant.

So yesterday she walking out with their (3yo) kid, I’m going in, so we meet at the door..
Small talk starts… then suddenly the kid look to me and goes “Are You Black?”
So I look to him and go “yes son, I’m a Black man”

Now the mother is red in the face.. She is stuttering “ Kid, they are so direct..”
I am caught between asking the kid why he asked, or spare the mom the embarrassment.. (cause in the back of my mind I would not put it pass the father to have secret racist notions)
The mom starts to talk about the weather and how “cant do anything outside with all this <span style="font-weight: bold">snow</span>”
I look outside its possibly 30C and humid.. anyhow.. I decided to let that one slide.

It did drive home something to me though.. Kids learn difference, and racism and tolerance, it seems, is learn at home..

[Wendy]

Re: ..&quot;Are you black?&quot;

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> It did drive home something to me though.. Kids learn difference, and racism and tolerance, it seems, is learn at home.. </div></div>

BINGO!

And at that age ..yes ..she is right ..they are direct! Dang near honest and they are going to repeat and do what they are learning

[Wendy]

Re: ..&quot;Are you black?&quot;

BTW X - are you reaalllly Black?

[quodlibet]

Re: ..&quot;Are you black?&quot;

That is so close to home for me, literally.

A few months ago, doing work in the back yard, and the neighbour's kids always come over to the fence, watch me work and chat mi up (4 of them, say 8/6/4 &amp; 2)

Ok, so the lone girl (she about 6) says to me &quot;Mr Q, do all people named Q have brown skin?&quot;

To rahtid this stops me in my tracks. I look up and say &quot;no, why did you ask?&quot;

She said &quot;well, you are named Q and you have brown skin, and our other neighbour is named Q and they have brown skin, so i just wanted to know...&quot;

[andronian2]

Re: ..&quot;Are you black?&quot;

They'll always recognize black people as different because black people look different from white people.
All this stuff about &quot;not seeing colour&quot; is such a joke because there is no way one can miss the obvious.
It's just that children are direct, haven't learned to be deceptive, and will readily speak about what they observe.

[Magician]

Re: ..&quot;Are you black?&quot;

You really have to be careful around kids, because they will pick up everything.

Evidently, I have a habbit of saying &quot;bad fi business&quot; when something doesn't go right. Mi bredrin now telling me that my 5 year old Godson now start say &quot;bad fi business&quot;!

So all di parents dutty laundry will normally come out thru their 3 year old.

[X]

Re: ..&quot;Are you black?&quot;

i disagree.
(here we go into the un-escapable Jamaicans.com race debate.. \o/ )

&quot;Black&quot; as a color is completely different from black as a race.
This is the colour black

I'm pretty sure that is the color taught to children as being Black..
Now most people I know who are considered from the Black race has more of a coffee-brown colour..
somewhat like this

So kids do recognize difference..
- Boys vs Girls
- Fat vs slim
- Curly hair vs straight
- One eyes vs two
- Toothless vs toothy

Why would a kid who most likely been taught the different colors ask someone who is not the color black, if they were black.. unless someone told them that a person that looks a certain way is considered such and such.

The argument can be made that Black is a race, not a color.

So too is white.. I am yet to meet a person who has the color white.
The Color between these brackets is White [ ]Now tell me who you know with that complexion?

When a kid ask you if you Black, there may be more to it than the color episode on Sesame Street..

[Peasie]

Re: ..&quot;Are you black?&quot;

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: pleXxed</div><div class="ubbcode-body">When a kid ask you if you Black, there may be more to it than the color episode on Sesame Street..
</div></div> I agree with this.

And let me tell you what happened when my oldest was just turning 3. He knew colors well by that time. We were sitting in a restaurant. Waiters and all around us were white (as in European). Dinner was over and table was being bussed by Latino man. Son said to us, &quot;Why is the brown man taking away our plates?&quot;

We carefully looked at each other. Oh gawd, we thought, and for days after we fretted about how children - and our very own at that - could learn so early about race differences . But how? Who? We questioned ourselves. More

The following week I take not-yet-3 son to a train station. He sees this woman making a mad dash to catch the 5:40. He asks me, &quot;Why is the blue lady running so fast?&quot; I looked at the woman in question. She was decked out in a bright blue outfit! I then remembered that the man who bussed our table at the restaurant was wearing khaki pants, a tan shirt, and a brown apron.

I went, oh now I get it. So, instead of saying &quot;Man wearing brown clothes&quot; my not-yet-3 year old contracted it to &quot;brown man.&quot;

Soh xX, yuh was wearing black clothes?

[Wendy]

Re: ..&quot;Are you black?&quot;

Peasie your story made me remember an episode with my daughter.

I heard her telling people at this function we attended she went to a &quot;white school&quot;. I was horrified thinking
(1)That is not true ..cause most of the kids were black
(2) Now the people gwine tink mi a teach har to distinguish between races

When I went home I asked her why is she telling people she is going to a &quot;white&quot; school and where did she get that from (thinking she is talking about race) Getting ready to scold her..

She looked up at me and said: &quot;Mommy the school is White&quot;

It took me a minute to realize dat di poor pickney a talk bout di paint color of the building. The school building is painted in all WHITE. \o/
I felt so ashamed for thinking &quot;race&quot; when in fact she was thinking &quot;colour&quot;

[Magician]

Re: ..&quot;Are you black?&quot;

Well somewhere between the age of 2 and 20 brown stops being brown and uptown stops being a location. Questions is when, and why...

[Cultcha]

Re: ..&quot;Are you black?&quot;

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: andronian2</div><div class="ubbcode-body">...All this stuff about &quot;not seeing colour&quot; is such a joke because there is no way one can miss the obvious.</div></div>

I hate when people say they don't see colour. that statement in itself is racist. It is like saying that anything with a different &quot;colour&quot; than white is something bad so it's just better to ignore the different colours of peoples skin.

There is NOTHING wrong with seeing &quot;colour&quot;. It's quite alright!

[X]

Re: ..&quot;Are you black?&quot;


Peasie .. you may be onto something there as I WAS wearing (full) Black clothes!

[kia027]

Re: ..&quot;Are you black?&quot;

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: pleXxed</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
Peasie .. you may be onto something there as I WAS wearing (full) Black clothes!
</div></div>

and now to the other question as to why you were wearing black inna the sun hot!

at that age, colour is just an observation

[Magician]

Re: ..&quot;Are you black?&quot;

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Kia</div><div class="ubbcode-body">and now to the other question as to why you were wearing black inna the sun hot!
</div></div>

Is Canada so it cole. Dem wear black fi gadda more heat outta a di light.

[X]

Re: ..&quot;Are you black?&quot;

Lesson learnt.. It may have been the black clothes for sure.

Kia, Black is Cool nuff said

Yow Magix, the weather in (this side of) Canada overall is waaaaaaaaaay more pleasant than mi been seeing happening south of the border..