Peanut on Obama
by Karen Batchelor of MidLife’s A Trip
On election night we all gathered over at my sister’s to watch the poll results come in. My 4 year old niece, the “Peanut” was thrilled with the company, the festive atmosphere and the spread of party food. Oh — and the fact that she was allowed to stay up long past her bedtime.
You see, my sister and I remembered that night in our childhood when our parents let us stay up all night to watch John F. Kennedy become president. Funny, we’ve talked about that night often lately. It’s etched on our memories. We wanted Peanut to have the same special memories of Barack Obama being elected president. Even though the results weren’t in yet when we gathered together, we all sensed it was just a matter of time. And Peanut had to be part of it.
Shortly before Obama’s victory was announced, I was in the kitchen with Peanut explaining to her why this was all so important. As I tried to set the stage for her in a way a four year old could comprehend, I gave her a short list of the reasons why Obama was the man we all wanted to see elected. I ended with telling her that it was also very exciting that he would be the first Black man ever to be elected President of the United States. Peanut smiled at that point in an indulgent and patient way. She tilted her head, threw up her hands in slight exasperation with me and said: Ti-Ti (that’s what she calls me), Barack Obama isn’t black — he’s brown!
I had to laugh!! Peanut gets it. Color is just color. It’s not what defines you or makes you qualified or not for any job — even president. Yet another life lesson from Peanut — Out of the mouth of babes.
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Cecilia –
I’m old enough to remember being called “colored, Negro, Afro-American, Black, African-American” and I sure a few other choice names I’ve chosen to forget. Won’t it be a great day when we don’t haven’t color prefixes? Kids intuitively understand this. Maybe we can stop sending them the “memo” that says otherwise.
Cecilia reply on November 16th, 2008 8:47 pm:
Isn’t that the truth? Who’s going to break it to all the major news agencies? (That we want them to leave the prefixes off). Maybe we’ll just have to rely on the power of the blog world.
Karen reply on November 17th, 2008 6:08 am:
Now that’s a great idea. Blog power is an amazing form of energy.
One of my childhood memories from the 60′s was thinking that “colored people” were our neighbors in Detroit who wore bright and colorful clothing. I didn’t understand that there was a negative connotation to that phrase until I went to school and heard viewpoints other than my own family’s.
My good friend runs an urban ministry in Detroit. Her young daughter has always described her friends in terms of brown and cream.
Truth spoken by a 4-year-old named Peanut. Really, how did the world ever become one of two sides on so many things–especially right and wrong. I tell my students so often, the world is not black or white, it is gray. I guess brown is the new gray.
Karen reply on November 13th, 2008 8:46 am:
You may be right Laura. Funny I’ve gotten so used to using the terms Black and White to denote race that it’s become second nature. But my teacher–Peanut–now keeps correcting me when I say Black. If I just remember that brown is the new gray, Peanut might give me a passing grade. We can change the world one person at a time.
I like “out of all those shades of brown, how did we come up with black and white.” And Peanut does totally get it.
Karen reply on November 13th, 2008 8:42 am:
Hopefully Peanut’s generation is the one who will change how we look at race in America. Or maybe I should say how we stop looking at it.
out of the mouthes of babes, hey. It all comes down to how we think about those shades of brown. Out of all those shades of brown, how did we come up with black or white. Bit extremist really.
By the way I think this site is a great idea.
Brigit
hotmiddlescence.com
byjane reply on November 12th, 2008 12:00 am:
Thanks, Brigit…wanna join us?????
Brigit reply on November 12th, 2008 3:27 pm:
Thanks for the invite. Would love to join you.
Thanks
Briigt
Karen reply on November 13th, 2008 8:41 am:
Good question Brigit. All I know is that I’m old enough to have been called “colored”, “Negro”, “Afro-American”, “African-American”, “Black” and several unmentionables related to race. I’d like to just be American now–without being color-coded! Peanut seems to believe this is possible.
We let our daughter (age 7) stay up too. She made me a box for my tears when I finally let it all go – eight years’ worth of tears, truth be told!
Karen reply on November 13th, 2008 8:36 am:
We could all have used that box for tears. Maybe your daughters can now start making up boxes for hope and change. It’ll take a while but now we can believe it’s coming!