Things I Don't Get

Parent Cafe
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<p>every girl ran to, holding her forearm against mine to contrast her depth of tan to my paleness</p>

<p>That would be my 15 yr old daughter. My husband is scandinavian but with just enough southern Italian to enable him to tan really dark. My 15 yr old got so dark during a trip to Hawaii in 8th grade that when she got off the plane with her cornrows and tanned skin it took me a while to recognize her.
Its nice to see that the enjoyment she didn’t get out of being 5, when most kids were having a blast, she is having now- being taller than everyone and not having the trauma of getting the germanic boobs freshman year of high school like her sister and I did ( I just hope nothing changes over the summer- she would have to get all new clothes- she has been wearing summer camp shirts from when she was 6)
I would have liked to had a tan once in my life, I think it does look “healthier” than pale, but I conditioned myself not to think that only fat babies were healthy, so why do I think I need some color to look good?</p>

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<p>I dont’ get racism.</p>

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<p>“I dont’ get racism.”</p>

<p>I think I get it…one day, a long time ago, someone got really upset with someone else and the two started insulting each other. They started using race as a source for insults, and they passed it on to their children. Eventually it got passed on with the original sentiments lost. But that’s just something I made up :P</p>

<p>What really happens is that there are cultural differences between races. Insecurity (financial, spiritual, personal, political) causes distrust and misunderstanding between the races, and it’s all a downward spiral from there.</p>

<p>The problem is, it’s really, really hard to shake off. Even the most “colorblind”-minded individual can’t help being affected by racial slurs in some way or another…</p>