MLK Day

Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, so Lucy was out of school for the holiday. Both girls had to go to the gym with me and then after that we stopped into Krispy Kreme to get some donuts. (Their hot light was on, so we had to ;) ).

Over the weekend Lucy told us what she learned about MLK day at school so we talked with her and Molly about it and tried explaining it a little more. We told her about the black and white divide in our country, the Civil Rights movement, and how MLK worked to change the culture. We told them that it doesn't matter what color of skin people have, everyone is equal and should be treated the same. It was interesting because she talked about people with black skin and people with white skin. I've never before heard her talk about black skin. Whenever she's described someone she's always said "the one with dark skin" or something like that, but never black. I have really liked the idea that both girls haven't used the term black, but rather dark skinned for people who have a different color of skin than them. I've been careful to try and not say the "black person" or whatever when talking about someone with a darker skin color. I don't know why, but I just really like that they don't see people as black or white...they just see people as people, which is how I think it should be.

The funny thing to me when having this MLK Day conversation with the girls is that I totally felt like we were in the middle of a 1990s sit-com when they had their MLK Day/black vs white episodee; almost like a public service announcement episode that those shows often had. I was half expecting violins to start playing in the background or something. It was just funny to me. :)