(No, this isn’t a post about hiking like I promised 😅)
Growing up I used to watch the Roseanne show. I was young then and had no concept of race or how being black is perceived in American society. Her shenanigans has prompted this post. 🙄
The munchkin happens to be biracial with me being African American and his dad being white (blonde hair, blue eyes). The munchkin has a mix of both our features.
After the divorce the munchkin and I moved from South Dakota (roughly 84% Caucasian) to Texas (roughly 70.4% Caucasian).
Most of his classmates are either Hispanic or Caucasian.
None of our immediate neighbors are African American.
I wondered how the munchkin saw himself and others. Perhaps being autistic allowed him to see people as just people without concern for skin color. I wondered what his whole perspective on race would be should he ever be able to verbally communicate that.
Around the time the munchkin was in middle school the whole coloring book craze came in and so (being the big kid that I am) I bought coloring books for the munchkin and I.
I had mandalas and a 24 pack of colored pencils. 😁
The munchkin had Star Wars, the Super Friends, and a 64 color box of crayola crayons.😁
I quickly realized that if you hand a child a crayon, he will sometimes reveal his soul.
This is just a small sampling of the munchkins coloring of characters. I don’t know how he came to perceive people this way as most of what we watch on TV at home are cartoons which have very few people of color in them. 🤷🏾♀️ The only somewhat logical conclusion I can draw from this is that his immediate family (on my side) has brown skin. If every person he colors is brown he must consider everyone family…???
Technically he is right.
Perception (again) is a very tricky thing. I know as the munchkin gets older perceptions about him will vary and he will have to tread more carefully in certain spaces. I also know that HIS perception of other people will change as well. I’m going to make sure as he matures his life is colored not just by one crayon but by the whole box.
Artwork by The Munchkin
….ok now back to hiking…. 😉
Around The Way 