Who's Planting the Racial Seeds?

While waiting at the checkout line in a store one evening, I engaged in a conversation with an El Salvadorean woman, and her child who could not have been more the 6 years old. The little girl asked me, what is a black guy doing speaking Spanish? I can tell by her warm demeanor that she did not mean any harm. In fact, the minute she saw me, she gave me a friendly, but curious gaze. Although, her mother calmly scolded her for making that comment, I high-fived the child wondering who planted the racial seed in her heart. In any event, I would love for this little girl to meet my goddaughter Daniela who is Black and speaks Spanish only!

On another occasion when I used to do recruiting for a federally sponsored job-training program for youth,  a young Latina came into my office with her mother who did not speak any English. Out of fearful concern for her daughter, she asked me if there were a lot of Blacks in this institution. I just bit my lip to keep from laughing. The mother must have thought I was “different” because we were speaking Spanish (LOL).

Fortunately, her daughter was not concerned and obviously did not buy into the racial prejudice of her mother. She went into the training program and got along well with everyone, regardless of color.