The story I am going to share here is from my husband. He grew up in Spokane, and he did not remember to see any diversity when he was a kid. When he was around seven years old, for the first time of his life, he saw an African American child in the park. He was confused, and he stared at that boy. After a while, he asked his mom “ Why is that child so dirty?” His mom was shocked and embarrassed. She paused for a few seconds before she started to respond back to my husband. She smiled to him and said “ That child is not dirty, he just has the different colored skin than ours.”
Mom talked about the different colors of skins in a soft and gentle voice to make my husband feel it is something normal for people to have different colored skins. She paused before she started to respond, that behaviors made my husband feel his question maybe not appropriate in public. However, after that experience, my husband felt a new world in front of him. He wants to be open and respectful to those people who are different from himself, as he does not want to see any misunderstanding happen again just like what he did in his childhood. He wanted to be the model to show respect to people around him and to help people who are still racist to become anti-biased people. He told me, the experience that conversation with mom in the park was one of the motivations to get him out of the country to work overseas to help more people who are different than him and need help.
As an anti-biased teacher, if it happened to us in the classroom, we could use that as a good entry to introduce diversity to children. That would be a good lesson for children to know there is nothing wrong to be different from others. We could have an activity to share the photos from each family in the class, and talk about the similarities and differences. Teachers also can share the personal experiences with children about skin colors and diversity. It would be helpful to invite children to try to look at things with a different perspective , to learn something new about the human experience and be open-minded to the idea” Do people choose their colors? Is is better to be one color than another?” (Pelo, 2008). It would be a good and real experience for children to talk about it and to see it as a whole picture with other children and the teacher. Children will hopefully gain the idea to feel proud of who they are.
References
A. Pelo (2008). Rethinking Early Childhood Education
Hello! Your husband's story is quite powerful, and I appreciate your sharing (as always!). The answer he received from his mother taught him more than she probably intended. It was extremly powerful and helped him understand the importance of respecting people who are different from himself. Tenoroio (2008) stated "I want children to understand that they have the power to transform society, and to live in a world where children won't hesitate to share the color of their skin" (p. 21). In many way, your husband's mother shared such a remark. I'm proud of her for not brushing off her son's comment as not important or not appropriate. She had courage.
ReplyDeletePelo, A. (2008). Rethinking Early Childhood Education. Milwaukee, WI: Rethinking Schools.
Xiyue,
ReplyDeleteYour husband's story evoked a strong response from me. I have known that different areas of even one country have different racial distributions. However, I grew up in a small country which was very diverse. I cannot even imagine having made that assumption. This was a powerful moment becuase it helped exemplify just how different one's experience can be from another's.
It is really positive that his mom discussed it with him. I did not have that same experience. My questions were always hushed.
Xiyue
ReplyDeleteThat is a powerful story. By him wanting to be open and respectful to those people who are different from himself, he wanted to learn to identify and challen stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination practices,(Pelo, 2008).