Age 6 and Race

Questions about upcoming calendar days - Night Owl Bean lately likes to know what is "coming up" and lately her mind seems to contain a giant calendar that she is trying to fill in - led to talk of Columbus Day, which led to talk of:

*Who the heck Columbus is and why did he come to America?
*Native Americans
*Where Native Americans live now and what do they do?

"Do they take care of white babies?" she asked.

It was the first time I'd heard her use the term "white"--typically we would refer to physical descriptions of "lighter skin" and "darker skin," which I'd also heard an African-American girl in her Daisy Girl Scout troop use as well. But more significantly, it was the first time I'd heard her recognize a color construct and relate it to power.

Part of me wanted to ask her why she'd think they were taking care of white babies. But then I realized that asking that was sort of hopeless.

Because we can live in a liberal, relatively integrated community and talk equality all we want. But the jobs that people DO speak their own stories.