I spend quite a while yesterday morning online researching Sarah Palin’s racism both overt and implied. So this evening on the subway when My Kid asked me what color Obama was…
I immediately started going through the Rolodex of my mind searching for facts I could tell her about his white mother from Kansas and his black father from Kenya and how the met in Hawaii and how some people get divorced. Also some foolish people with light skin like Sarah Palin decide not to like people who have dark skin like the Obama family, and say words like “those people” to mean they don’t want to even try to be friends. Even though they are grownups, they have not yet learned the lesson of “The Sneeches” by Dr. Seuss.
Stalling for time I asked; “What do you mean what color is Obama?”
She wanted to know if he was BLUE or RED!
I remembered an essay I once read by someone, who, attending a gay wedding and reception at a church in Seattle, wondered what carefully crafted words about love and relationships would be prepared for the child who was marveling at the weird thing he had seen. That strange thing the child had never seen before turned out to be a rotary dial telephone.