Category: Parenting

I can’t stand confrontation or even controversy. So while listening to a talk radio show this morning, it was a natural move for me to switch the station when a caller began to argue with the DJ about the “race card.” Apparently, the caller was offended when the DJ changed his tone/accent when impersonating an Asian man and the DJ was put out (to say the least) that the caller insisted on “playing the race card.” I can’t stand to listen to people argue in public, much less on air, so I quickly switched to another channel. It was an interesting argument, though, and one that made me think about how much our society has changed, yet has still stayed the same. When I was a child, my younger sister and I loved the game “Guess Who?” It was a guessing game where each player had a plastic card rack of people with differentiating features and a primary card. The object of the game was to guess the other player’s person by asking yes or no questions. The “people” ranged from older curly-haired black females, young white males with hats to Asian females sporting glasses and balding French males. Twenty years ago, when we played this game often, our questions focused primarily on race – Is your person white? Is your person black? – and then dwindled to accessories. Is your person wearing a scarf? Does your person have a yellow hat? Interestingly enough, though, when I pulled out this game a few weeks ago for my own two children to play, the questions were quite different. Does your person have a surfer haircut? Does your person have a big nose? Is your person smiling? Does your person have dimples? What I noticed was that my kids didn’t pay much attention to race at all while playing the game. Not once did they pull the “race card.” Not once did they question skin color or ethnic styles. It was comforting to see through my kids’ play that race was not a source of controversy and that I’ve raised them to look beyond skin color and notice the special qualities of each individual. By no means, do I think that racial discrimination is not still predominantly causing injustice in this society, but for one moment, it was nice to forget the confrontation and see that my kids did not even acknowledge the “race card.” I was proud of their growth and maturity, until my son said, “Does your person have a big butt?” Yes, we still have some things to work on … - Shannon Philpott Blog Entry: Aug. 11, 2009 © Shannon Philpott, 2009. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Shannon Philpott and shannonphilpott.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.