"I have a dream"

Yesterday was Martin Luther King Jr. day.  It was a day that gave me pause.  How do I explain to my children that, at a time in our history, not so long ago, they would have been denied many things because of the color of their skin.  They fully understand that I am a different shade of brown then they are, but I don't think they have experienced racism in our country...yet. 

I know there will be a time when someone, of some shade of brown, will treat them differently than they expect;  either because they act too white (an Oreo: black on the outside white on the inside; a name adopted African kids are sometimes called) or because they're skin is dark. I am still at a loss of how to explain that to them, and I haven't felt the timing is right yet, especially with the language barrier we still have.  Part of my problem with explaining it to them is that it really is so inexplicable. 

My children are my children.  I don't even think about their skin color and many of the people they are around don't either.  On a personal level, we are so far removed from this ugly part of our nation's history that I can't understand it.  Just that it's a bad thing that happened that shouldn't have happened.  I guess I'll need to talk about it in the context of humanity and the ugliest parts of our history as humans which always involve suppressing and hurting others for some reason or another that in the end, is never as important as we thought.

The fact that I find it so hard to explain to my children might be a sign that Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream is starting to become a reality.

Sunday afternoon the kids had a play date with several other kids from their school.  They were riding in little motorized cars and Endrias was driving a little (light colored) girl around and had his arm around her to keep her safe in the car.  The sun was setting and was casting a golden light on the two of them and I thought of this line from Dr. King's "I have a dream" speech:


"I have a dream that one day...little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers."

We are living the dream.  Thanks Dr. King for daring to give a voice to what is now our beautiful life.