During Black History month in 2011, NBC Philadelphia Assistant News Director Dave Parker recounts the first race conversation he had with his little girl.
I have always wondered if and when the subject of race, people being "different looking" would be brought up by my five-year old daughter Grace.
She's a sharp little girl who asks many, many questions.
So the other night when we happened to be watching my favorite college basketball team, the Louisville Cardinals, Grace says to me, "Dad, are all basketball players black?
Hello. What? Where did that come from?
I said "No Grace, look at Louisville's team in the black uniforms, they have two white players." And she fires back "Oh yeah, but most of them are black."
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Before this discussion advanced anymore, she says, "Dad, did you ever hear about a woman named Rosa Parks?" I said, "Yes, I have heard a little about her, why? Did you talk about her in school today?"
It is Black History Month, so I thought maybe in her kindergarten class it came up. Grace goes on to tell me how this woman, Rosa Parks, had trouble getting on a bus because the whites and the blacks couldn't get along and started fighting.
Grace asks me if whites and blacks still fight today. I said, "Yes, unfortunately they still do, sometimes they don't get along."
And once again, before I could finish this conversation, Grace says "I have two best friends who aren't like me, they aren't white." She says, "one of them is from China and the other was born in Mexico." I have met these two little girls before so I said, "Yes Grace, I know them, I am glad they are your best friends."
She says, "We are all different and we just find a way to get along."
Wow.
I don't know where she gets it, or how she does it. But she just summed it all up so well. Yes, we are all different, not just by color, not just by how we are raised or how we look. But, in the words of my little girl, "We just have to find a way to get along."
I hope Grace keeps that same perspective. I wish I could somehow "bottle it up" and save it for later in life. Instead, she'll keep growing and I can't wait for our next little talk, who knows what topic she'll bring up.
