by Mereshia De Nobrega

Created on: January 19, 2009

Race, I did not have to discuss it because I had to fight it with my boys. See I'm colored, My mom was white and my dad was black. I came out brown, colored like they say today. Well this story is not about my struggle growing up, that's for a another day. I ended up getting married to a white man had our kids and then they had to endure the same racial remarks that I went thru in my childhood.

One would think after twenty years of racial abuse I would have all the answers to explain to my kids on how to handle it. No, I did not have the answers to give them, I could not explain it to them why there are people out there saying hurtful things to them. Were we tired of hearing all the abuse to my kids? yes we were.

But all I said was just don't listen to them, just walk away, don't defend yourself, you are a human being just like them. Boy was that so wrong to say. What do you say to your child when he was invited to play at his new best friend and the mother see my child for the first time in her home and phone me to please pick up my son now because he is not the right color and your child cry all the way home because he never got to play. I said his friend mom was sick she was afraid my son might get it also.

What do you say to your son if he doesn't get an invite to the party were all the kids in the class got invites. My answer was because I told the mom we could not make it, we were going away on that same weekend that is why you did not get an invite, I was one of the moms that lied to my sons about all the evilness, moms played with my kids, I defended their actions, why? Because there was no way to explain why people were and are like that.

I was not going to let my kids feel the pain and confusion about color. It was not us that had the problem and at school the kids there never had a problem playing with my kids. It was the fathers and the mothers, it was the older people that had the problem. Not my kids, not me while growing up. My kids were never invited to some parties they never had play dates unless it was my family kids

Will there ever be and explanation about race, culture, religions, wars, politics, the truth about it, As much as we will try to explain there will always be someone that will disagree on our explaining the truth because we don't know how anybody thinks and feel about all this, all I did was try to not hurt my kids feelings about being the same human being with just a different skin color but with a kinder heart.

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