"Part II"

Hello readers, and welcome back to my blog about Beverly Daniel Tatum, PhD.'s Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? 

I've just finished reading Part II of the book, and I have to say that my opinions about the author have changed a little bit. While I understand that she is a psychologist and is knowledgeable about what she's saying, I also think that she may be trying to push a little bit too far into the developmental aspect of psychology. I definitely agree with her about how much of an issue it is that children aren't always educated properly regarding race and racism, but I don't necessarily agree with an anecdote she puts in:

I remember being about three years old when I had an argument with an African American playmate. He said I was 'black.' 'No I'm not,' I said, 'I'm tan.'...As a three-year-old child who knew her colors, I was prepared to stand my ground. As an adult looking back on this incident, I wonder if I had also begun to recognize, even at three, that in some circles it was better to be tan than to be black. Had I already started internalizing racist messages? (112).

First of all, I think calling that an "incident" may be too strong of a word, as it seems to have been a simple conversation between two preschoolers. When I think "incident", I think of a schoolyard fight or maybe even a robbery. Not two kids in a sandbox talking about the shades of their skin. While I agree about the issue of "color-blindness" in children and how they may not be as "blind" as we think, I also think that Tatum is reaching here. As a three-year-old, who "knew her colors", I don't think she was offended to be called black or thought it was better to be tan; I think she was a three-year-old who "knew her colors" and was disagreeing because she didn't look like a black crayon. I think that the other kid was talking about race, but literally just to point out that she was his race, too-almost as if he had just learned about it and was excited to make connections and share it. I'm just not sure that a simple exchange between toddlers can be interpreted into "internalizing racist messages".

Tatum then goes on to talk about a man who was excited about his daughter's so-called "color-blindness":

One day when he picked his daughter up from school, he asked her to point out her new friend...his daughter elaborately described what the child was wearing. She never said she was the only Black girl in the group...I wondered if, rather than a sign of color blindness, it was a sign that she had learned not to be so impolite as to mention someone's race. (117).

 Again, I think Tatum is overestimating the amount that the average kid thinks about race. Unless their parents are openly racist, the kid probably won't even care what races their friends are. Even with racist parents, a kid will likely still hang out with their friends of different races and not tell their parents, because unless corrupted by the opinions of their superiors, a kid will not care. Of course you have some kids that would repeat things their racist parents may say, but I like to think in a more humanistic way-to quote Moroccan writer Tahar Ben Jelloun, "On ne naît pas raciste, on le devient." In French class, we are reading excerpts of Le racisme expliqué à ma fille by Mr. Jelloun, and I think the quote ("We are not born racist, we become it") is very fitting for this race unit in AP Language. So, while this girl may not have been blind to the fact that her friend was Black, I don't think she didn't say it because she was worried about being "impolite". I think she, like most kids, just simply didn't care. In my own experience making friends as a kid, only one thought crossed my mind: are they fun to play with and nice to me? If yes, then great, they were my friend. Race was never a thought when it came to who I chose to play with. Of course, I grew up in not-so-racially-diverse New Hampshire, but race still didn't matter to me as I have Black and Hispanic family members.

All in all, I still agree with most of what Tatum says and I am enjoying the book so far. Reading it has sort of opened my eyes to things I hadn't considered about race, and although I didn't agree with this particular section of the book, it still made me think deeply about my own thoughts and beliefs. I think a book that can make you think about things you've never considered before, even if you disagree, is really important in keeping us all level-headed and informed people.

Thank you for reading, and stay tuned for "Part III"!