Friday, November 07, 2008

We're so racist

Ok, I admit it. We are racist. Color matters to us. No one wants to eat off the pink plate. The yellow puppies get ignored because everyone who visits wants to play with the black puppies. The poor yellow toys and craft supplies get tossed aside in favor of green or red.

In the course of raising our three boys I've always tried to celebrate diversity and emphasize the value of all colors. Despite my best efforts the segregation and downright discrimination continue. It has reached the point that the yellow birthday balloon was popped... on purpose. The green and red balloons were mutilated by cutting their strings off so that other brothers couldn't play with them. Even the favored colors suffer when racism runs rampant.

I don't know what to do about it. My room is a collage of lavendar, purple, green, red, blue, orange, and yes... even yellow. My wardrobe is similiarly diverse (although it leans heavily towards the orange/red/pink end of the spectrum). Never have my children heard me express the opinion that one color is better than the other colors. Never have I rejected an object based on color (and you should have seen some of our early couches!). Yet, the racism persists. I can't even blame it on the horrid public school children (you know, since we homeschool).

Pink plates, cups, mugs, saucers, elephants of the world unite! This favoritsm towards other colors must end! The kitchen cupboard is the first place to begin uniting the color spectrum. Please think of the children.... buy brownish gray sludge colored dishes... they combine the best (and worst) of all the colors!

Seriously, if I have to listen to any more whining about the pink plate I will paint the dishes brown.

3 comments:

Amy said...

If you just had a girl this wouldn't be such an issue. In our house pink only comes second to light (Cinderella) blue.

Maybe you need to have another child and hope it's a girl!!!

Yes I was laughing as I wrote that!

although...

Janet said...

I'm afraid that wouldn't solve the equality issue for yellow though. Good thought, but having another child (who would probably be male anyway!) most likely won't resolve the situation. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll file it appropriately.

Janet said...

Although... if you're feeling the need for new babies in your life... I do have a beautiful little blond girl. She has big, brown eyes and an ambitious yet sweet personality. She goes by "Claire" but is young enough to change names easily. I bet she'd like to eat Cinderella blue toys/clothing/dishes.

Jake camping in the living room

Jake camping in the living room