Monday, January 19, 2009

Happy Martin Luther King Day - Now lay off my kid!

I don't want anyone to think I'm callous, or that I don't think that the Civil Rights movement wasn't a good thing. It was! It was important! There were many great men and women who worked hard and some even lost their lives like Dr. King. I value their sacrifices greatly.

That being said, will the schools please lay off my kids.

Oriahna came home with "white man guilt" on Friday. She's being quiet and serious and not herself. Something is obviously bothering her. Being the concerned parent I ask her what is wrong.

"Mom, I just feel bad because the way we treated the black people."

"Whoa, wait, they way who treated the black people?"

"We, white people."

No no no no no no...we are not going to even START this!

"Honey, do you treat black people mean?"

"No."

"Do your Dad and I treat black people mean?"

"No."

"Does Grandma and Grandpa treat black people mean?"

"No."

"Then why do you feel bad!"

"Because we were learning about it in school and my teacher said....." (Big heavy sigh by mom here)

My point here is, you don't need to make my 9 year old feel guilty because of the color of her skin for something that happened before I was even born. I'm her mother, if anyone is going to lay a guilt trip on her, its going to be me!

3 comments:

Mandy said...

amen sister!

~*Jen*~ said...

*rolls eyes* Ugh, it's statements like that of her teacher's that keep racism alive in this country today! Just treat everyone the same and we're ALL fine! Geesh.

Peaceful Mommy Kayleen said...

HA - Elise told me today that her teacher told her that fasting is BAD and you should NEVER do it. I tried to explain that the teacher doesn't understand what fasting is for and that it's ok to do it once a month, especially since Heavenly Father has asked (commanded?) us to do it. Heavenly Father would never ask us to do something that was bad. Geez. Why is a school teacher correcting a religious belief? Maybe she didn't realize that it is religious fasting that we engage in. (And besides, Elise has never fasted yet, since she's only eight years old.) lol