"What color is he?  Brown, Black or White?"  Not exactly a politically correct question but one asked with the innocence of a 2 1/2 year-old who was simply trying to get a clearer description of the person I was talking about.  Augustine is my White grand-daughter, now six years old,  who spent 9 hours a day from the age of one until four years old in a daycare center surrounded by mostly Black children and staff.  I was struck by the naturalness of the question.   It was a question asked completely for the sake of description like asking what color eyes does he have.  It was refreshing to hear the question without any valuation being placed on what the color might be. 

"What color is he?  Brown, Black or White?"  Not exactly a politically correct question but one asked with the innocence of a 2 1/2 year-old who was simply trying to get a clearer description of the person I was talking about.  Augustine is my White grand-daughter, now six years old,  who spent 9 hours a day from the age of one until four years old in a daycare center surrounded by mostly Black children and staff.  I was struck by the naturalness of the question.   It was a question asked completely for the sake of description like asking what color eyes does he have.  It was refreshing to hear the question without any valuation being placed on what the color might be. 

Augustine was blessed in many ways by her time at the Easter Seals Day Care Center.  She was loved from the moment she arrived--a precious bundle with red hair, blue eyes and wide open smile that invited the world in. Her working parents had spent a great deal of time looking for a center that would provide lots of love as well as good child development practices.  Her world was filled with Black faces who tended to her and played with her. Outside that world, White faces surrounded her.  I grew accustomed to hearing Augustine's innocent questions about color, sometimes about gender and even "are they old like you, grannie" as she attempted to picture the person being discussed. 

Augustine learned something else about accepting people the way they are. Easter Seals has many children who are physically challenged--in wheelchairs, using oxygen tanks, etc. Early on, each child learns to help the other. At Augustine's second year birthday party, her friend, Sarah, was sitting on the floor putting on her shoes.  One of Sarah's shoes was out of reach but she was concentrating on putting the first one on.  Without a word, Augustine took in the situation, walked over and placed the second shoe within Sarah's reach.  I was touched by how tuned in Augustine at two years of age was to her friend's need even before Sarah knew she needed help.  Being around children that needed assistance like carrying their oxygen tank to the playground became second nature to Augustine. She did not have the remotest thought about the children being "different".  They were her friends and helping them was simply something she did for friends.

You probably know where I am going with all this.  Isn't it sad that we lose our childhood acceptance of people's differences?  I am not saying that we have to become "color or disability blind".  We need to do something more difficult.  Instead of being blind to the difference, we need to see the difference without prejudice and act with acceptance and even assistance when needed.   

I read recently an article, "Is Race Real?" in the New York Times by Nicholas Kristof--a White guy.  He just had his DNA examined by a genetic specialist and found out he is African-American.  The mitochondria in his cells showed him descended from a matriarch living in Africa 70,000 years ago. He also mentions that genetic markers named Cohen found in half the Jewish men are also found in Arabs.  The truth is we are all interconnected and inter-related.  The New England Journal of Medicine once editorialized bluntly that "race is biologically meaningless" and Kristof writes that "Genetics will increasingly show that most humans are mongrels, and it will make a mockery of race."

Why don't we just see the world and its people through the eyes of a child--we are all one and each of us reflects the spirit of the other.  That may not be the way Augustine would describe it.  She would probably just say, "He's brown and has a puppy named Archie."  End of story.

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