He sat close beside me, his arm next to mine. He looked at my white skin and then at his brown skin next to mine.
“I wish,” followed by silence.
I knew what was coming. It’s come several times before and it makes my heart sink every time.
“What do you wish bud?”
“I wish my skin was white like yours.
“Why do you wish that?”
“Because then I wouldn’t get made fun of.”
Just a few days before he asked me if anyone will make fun of him for having a white sister when he’s brown. I knew something had happened yet again. I told him people shouldn’t. He told me people had.
We talked about why he should love his skin. We talked about racism and ignorance and how their is nothing wrong with his skin but there is something wrong with the heart of people who make fun of him for it. We talked about the people who have fought for the rights he has and how people are still fighting for equality for all.
“Is it getting better?” He asked.
“I don’t know bud, we just have to keep trying and you have to keep loving yourself because you are made exactly how God wanted you.”
I couldn’t tell him yes it is getting better because the past few years I have seen more and more of the ugliness of racism happening right where I live. How it is still a taboo subject that makes people angry when it is talked about. I’ve been searching trying to figure out if it is getting worse or maybe my eyes are just being opened more and more because that ugliness is happening to the ones I love the most. The answer makes my heart sink and makes me question what I can do to protect those I love the most. I don’t have that answer but I am searching for it.
