Equal Rights for All, Blondes and Brunettes Alike

So, it goes without saying that this was a pretty momentous week. On Monday I was home with the kids since we all had the day off for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. As we were getting up from lunch, Bubba announced "Tomorrow's our 100th day of school! And today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!"

"You know what that's all about, right, Bubba?" His pre-K did a really good job of covering the basics of the Civil Rights Movement and who the major players were, but I was curious to see how much of it had stuck with him.

"Yeah, it's about everybody treating African Americans the same as us. And I know about Martin Luther King's speech -- I Have a Dream."

He then began to ask me lots of questions about "that lady, the one on the bus."

"Rosa Parks?"

Yeah, that lady. He was very curious to find out if she was still alive.

"No, she died a while back. Can you imagine what that was like, Bubba? Imagine if you were sitting on the bus and somebody got on and said 'Hey you, you have green eyes, you can't sit here, you have to sit at the back of the bus."

"Well that's not fair!" he said indignantly. I could see a light of understanding click on in his head.

Bolstered by the success of that I pressed on. "Or if somebody got on the bus and said 'Hey you have brown hair, you have to sit at the back of the bus."

"Yeah," he said. "Unless you have a little bit of brown hair and a little bit of blonde hair, then you can sit in the middle of the bus" he replied thoughtfully.

Hmph. I guess I should have quit while I was ahead.

On a similar topic, if you've never seen it, I highly recommend viewing "A Class Divided," which documents an Iowa schoolteacher's unforgettable lesson on discrimination. You can watch it here. I watched it in third grade and it changed my life.