At class this week I had some interesting discussions about when I first figured out that there were different races. I am interested in your perspective.
At what age (or grade) did you first realize that there were different races?
posted by Justin and Dawn Beck @ Wednesday, January 24, 2007
6 comments
6 Comments:
I was probably around 9 or 10. Much of my life I was exposed to different races due to my dad's work. So races weren't really a huge deal to me growing up.
I think really early actually. I lived in a college apartment complex with my family during my kindegarten years while my dad was finishing school. There were many races in the complex so I knew there were "different kinds" of people really early. I was just never told that it was because they were a different race until later I am sure. I just assumed they were regular people like me until others made it into a "race" issue.
Dawn - I was really young. I grew up in the south, so race was still a pretty prevalent issue. I always had this awareness that race divided us, but it wasn't until I watched the movie Perfect Harmony that I saw what racism looked like in a tangible way. After that, I began to notice racism more and more in the people around me as well as in myself. I have a few interesting stories if you ever want to hear them.
Peace,
Dave
I remember AAU basketball tryouts in 6th grade when race hit me. Also, for the first time, at this age, I guarded a guy my own age with arm pit hair. I had trouble compartamentalizing these two differetn events!
probably when i was in kindegarden when i was watching something on tv about something in africa or whatev and saw people with a different skin tone than me and thought they were lucky because they got to have tan skin all year round!! There was nobody in my neighborhood that was african american or indian or anything except white, caucasian peeps and i was bummed. but when i was in like third or fourth grade a missionary family moved in down the street. their dad was white and their mom was indian and they were really cool to hang out with. but they moved a few months later back to india and then came back two years later and i saw them, but i haven't seen them in a while because they moved to either somewhere else in the state or to a different state altogether.
thats a good question Dawn, I don't really remember, but I'd imagine it was in kindergarden because my best friends were partially indian.
I've been reading a really cool book entitled White Like Me by Tim Wise, you should check it out, its all about race and white privledge, very good book and a great speaker if you get the chance.
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