This morning at the shelter an African American woman and her 4 year old son were on the way out. The boy ran into our office and hugged our African American secretary and said "Good morning" after he finished hugging her I greeted him myself with a "Good Morning" and he just looked up at me and said very plainly "You're white"

You are!!!! :eek: :lol: ;)

Seriously though, that is a little unusual. Maybe he didn't think white people worked at shelters. I know that would be a strange thing to think, but its always possible.

Well, he's lived there for a few months and there are a few other caucasian staff members. It was kind of funny but kind of shocking.

:lol: I think I would have just said right back, "And you're black so we make a pretty cool pair don'tchya think?"

I've only once had "the reverse racism" thing happen, if that's what you'd call it and once I made a joke out of it sort of like that and we ended up becoming good friends in the end (she was a Jamacian immigrant I worked with). At first I was a bit shocked and hurt, but then remembered how racism is taught so you just "unteach" them.

If they still don't like me after that, then there's not much I can do about it and just figure it's their loss for being narrow minded. Hopefully it was just a innocent observation and nothing more.

Wow, I'm sorry that happened to you, but at the same time it kind of made me chuckle. It's like they say, kids say the darndest thing's!! :lol:

Wow, I'm sorry that happened to you, but at the same time it kind of made me chuckle. It's like they say, kids say the darndest thing's!! :lol:


Me too! Reminds me of an old boyfriend of mine who had a young son. He moved down to an area south of Toronto in a small town that oddly didn't have black people living it. They were at the mall in the next (larger) town over one day when a black guy passed by. Rick's kid goes right up to the guy and asked what t.v. show he was on. Turns out he'd only seen black people on television up to that point and figured the guy had to be a star of some sort. :lol: So it shows how innocent it can be sometimes.

thats a great suggestiopn cathy. if i hadn't been up all night on third, i would have probably been on my toes a little more in responding to him but i will definately try that the next time that kind of situation arises.


-brad - yes it was pretty humorous and i wasn't offended in anyway, just shocked. but that was my immediate though too, "kids say the darndest things"

Me too! Reminds me of an old boyfriend of mine who had a young son. He moved down to an area south of Toronto in a small town that oddly didn't have black people living it. They were at the mall in the next (larger) town over one day when a black guy passed by. Rick's kid goes right up to the guy and asked what t.v. show he was on. Turns out he'd only seen black people on television up to that point and figured the guy had to be a star of some sort. :lol: So it shows how innocent it can be sometimes.

:rofl: Ha ha ha, that's freaking hilarious, thanks for sharing it. It kind of reminds me of myself as a kid. I now live in a neighborhood that is very diverse, but as a kid my neighborhood was all white. Everytime I would see a black man I'd always think it was former Portland Trailblazer Clyde Drexler. :lol: I would look up at my dad and say hey look, it's Clyde Drexler. He'd just get all red, take my hand, and quickly walk away. :lol: Of course it was totally innocent on my part, but it embarrassed the heck out of mom and dad.

Cathie, thats a cute story. kids are so wonderfully naive and innocent, God bless them

Me too! Reminds me of an old boyfriend of mine who had a young son. He moved down to an area south of Toronto in a small town that oddly didn't have black people living it. They were at the mall in the next (larger) town over one day when a black guy passed by. Rick's kid goes right up to the guy and asked what t.v. show he was on. Turns out he'd only seen black people on television up to that point and figured the guy had to be a star of some sort. :lol: So it shows how innocent it can be sometimes.
:rofl: That story is hilarious. Out of the mouths of babes, lol.

Small children blurt things like. Please don't be offended.

you should've acted hurt and surprised and asked your co-worker "Why didn't you TELL ME I was white?!?!"

(ala WKRP)

Wow, that was surprising. Well, it was just a child. Children are mostly honest and tell people what they see and think.

you should've acted hurt and surprised and asked your co-worker "Why didn't you TELL ME I was white?!?!"

(ala WKRP)
Yeah! That's what I would have done! :lol:

you should've acted hurt and surprised and asked your co-worker "Why didn't you TELL ME I was white?!?!"

(ala WKRP)


Yah, that would have been a really good comeback too!

That, or put your hands all over your face and body and exclaim, "OH MY GOSH - WHEN did THAT happen?!!" and then wink at him.

Wasn't that Johnny Fever that said that?

Nobody has ever came up to me and mistook me for a black celebrity :(

Yah, that would have been a really good comeback too!

That, or put your hands all over your face and body and exclaim, "OH MY GOSH - WHEN did THAT happen?!!" and then wink at him.

Wasn't that Johnny Fever that said that?
actually it was Venus responding to someone telling him that he was black :lol:

- but he did say it to Johnny

ohno: These are the same black people who are the first to shout racism. I'm figuring he picked this up from his mother. Kids are pretty color-blind as a rule, at least the ones I've seen.

Nobody has ever came up to me and mistook me for a black celebrity :(
Maybe you should go to Canada!

I agree Cathy, I don't think this is something the kid would naturally say on his own. This is something you learn at your mother's knee and its the reason why racism will never die as long as people continue to breed hate. Again I was not offended and it was no big deal, I just thought it made good topic for conversation and its not my intention to start anyhting.

while skin color usually has cultural roots, that's really all it is, skin color, much like hair color or eye color. it's been suggested that even the latter two have some cultural roots as well. as a child i sometimes casually mentioned people's skin color when it wasn't relevant until i got yelled at to stop one too many times. i didn't understand why. i still don't. giving names to things isn't the same thing as dividing them.

I agree Cathy, I don't think this is something the kid would naturally say on his own. This is something you learn at your mother's knee and its the reason why racism will never die as long as people continue to breed hate. Again I was not offended and it was no big deal, I just thought it made good topic for conversation and its not my intention to start anyhting.
I don't see how a 4-year-old saying "You're white" is hateful. Kids, especially as young as 4 years old, love to show off all of the words and concepts that they learn. When my nephews learned to read, they read pretty much everything that they saw. Every single stop sign, I had to hear "Stop!" Every time I changed the channel on TV, they had to announce the name of the show. Looking at a white person and saying "You're white" is really no different, IMO.

i never said the kid was hateful. what i meant was a kid his age is a parrot, he just repeats things but but does not really understand the meaning of what he's saying. he's repeating things he's heard from his parent or wherever. its like i could say e=mc2 but i don't know the significance of what it means. i didn't say that what the kid said was hate filled but wherever he's learning it from is


and maybe your theory is true, maybe hes just identifying objects/colors/shapes/concepts or whatever but i'm sure i'm not the first white person the kid has seen. he was 4 or 5, not a toddler babbling

I don't see how a 4-year-old saying "You're white" is hateful. Kids, especially as young as 4 years old, love to show off all of the words and concepts that they learn. When my nephews learned to read, they read pretty much everything that they saw. Every single stop sign, I had to hear "Stop!" Every time I changed the channel on TV, they had to announce the name of the show. Looking at a white person and saying "You're white" is really no different, IMO.

I don't want to put words into Kim's mouth, but I don't think she was saying that the boy's words were hateful. He may not have even truly knew what he was saying. However, the term "white" was something he probably picked up from an adult and this could could eventually lead to racial thinking.

I don't want to put words into Kim's mouth, but I don't think she was saying that the boy's words were hateful. He may not have even truly knew what he was saying. However, the term "white" was something he probably picked up from an adult and this could could eventually lead to racial thinking.

Agreed. That's how I interpreted it too.

I don't see how a 4-year-old saying "You're white" is hateful. Kids, especially as young as 4 years old, love to show off all of the words and concepts that they learn. When my nephews learned to read, they read pretty much everything that they saw. Every single stop sign, I had to hear "Stop!" Every time I changed the channel on TV, they had to announce the name of the show. Looking at a white person and saying "You're white" is really no different, IMO.
agreed. when i was really small, i once referred to a black girl i knew as "the black one". my mom immediately told me to refer to her by her name. i didn't pick up that talk from anyone, she was just the only black person i knew and i didn't see it as any different as calling someone the blonde one or the short one. kids will tell people that they're fat or have acne or large breasts. it doesn't take exposure to hate for them to point out observations.

Maybe you should go to Canada!


LOL *rim shot*

while skin color usually has cultural roots, that's really all it is, skin color, much like hair color or eye color. it's been suggested that even the latter two have some cultural roots as well. as a child i sometimes casually mentioned people's skin color when it wasn't relevant until i got yelled at to stop one too many times. i didn't understand why. i still don't. giving names to things isn't the same thing as dividing them.

Exactly - and that's how my friends and I feel. We can make jokes about it because it IS just colour really.

As a kid, my best friend's mom was white and her dad was black from Memphis. My parents got friendly with hers so one afternoon my dad invited her dad up to our apt. for a beer. We had 3 cats at the time, and didn't know her dad was afraid of them. When my dad opened the front door, a cat ran out and Bill freaked. My dad made a joke about Bill almost turning white when he saw the cat which they laughed about for years afterwards.

To me, if we all just lightened up a bit about our different looks we could all just relax a bit more and enjoy those differences.

It's like when my mom was on oxygen 24/7 and we'd go to a mall. She'd have to sit on a bench to rest and often children would stare or say something. Some would come right up and ask why she had a tube "coming from her nose". We knew not to get "insulted" or anything because it was just innocent curiosity. She'd explain to them and usually make a positive lesson out of it telling them never to start smoking.

I agree though, I'd like to think it was a simple, cute observation. Sometimes as adults we tend to read too much into things.

agreed. when i was really small, i once referred to a black girl i knew as "the black one". my mom immediately told me to refer to her by her name. i didn't pick up that talk from anyone, she was just the only black person i knew and i didn't see it as any different as calling someone the blonde one or the short one. kids will tell people that they're fat or have acne or large breasts. it doesn't take exposure to hate for them to point out observations.
Pretty much. It's not like "white" is a derogatory name for Caucasians. If the kid had used a derogatory name, then yeah, that's definitely something that reflects bad on the parents, but just saying "you're white" is nothing. It's like saying "You're a girl" or "You're old" or "You're tall."

Many is the time that I've hugged black women. To me, it's not that big of a deal.

Maybe you should go to Canada!



I do like the country :D

I do like the country :D



;) Gotta love a country that treasures the: