My son was the child of color in the neighborhood until we adopted his sister. When it was time for my son to go to kindergarten the school board changed the school configuration. Our neighborhood school became a 5-6 grade school. My son was then bused to a k-4 grade school two miles away. Interestingly, our school board will be voting tonight on whether or not to make our neighborhood school a k -5 grade school.
While we were greatly disappointed that we were unable to walk our son to school and o have him educated around the corner from our house, the transition allowed him to meet children of color. A number of his best friends today are African-American boys that would not have gone to our neighborhood school. I do not believe in a color blind society. While people of good will try to see the person within, they can't help but notice the traits of the outside. This isn't a bad thing, since I think we should embrace our individuality both inside and out. The white boys in our neighborhood for some reason didn't bond with my son who is extremely good natured. Even after playing on the same sports teams for years the bonds did not solidify as I thought they would. This didn't deter my son, he now has a number of friends crossing the economic and ethnic landscape, but the majority of his close friends are friends of color. This, despite his once lilly white neighborhood.
In 2012 our neighborhood is incredibly different than it was ten years ago. We now have a native Korean family living in a house behind us. Next to their house is a family of Palestinian Americans. And, a block away a family moved in who have also adopted children both of color and not (and currently have nine school age children). In addition, a number of additional families have moved in with young children. The neighborhood is now much more diverse and filled with young people. My daughter has a number of girlfriends of a variety of ethnic backgrounds close to home. What a difference ten years have made.
Last week my son and his friend and my daughter went over to the Glencairn neighborhood playground to play. My wife and I walked over with our pooch a little afterwards. When we got there I was amazed to see the playground alive with children of color. The once little used playground had a four on four football game going while a number of other children played on the equipment. Another thing that struck me was that of the ten children I saw playing, nine were adopted by three families and, all the children have at least one white parent.
While we were greatly disappointed that we were unable to walk our son to school and o have him educated around the corner from our house, the transition allowed him to meet children of color. A number of his best friends today are African-American boys that would not have gone to our neighborhood school. I do not believe in a color blind society. While people of good will try to see the person within, they can't help but notice the traits of the outside. This isn't a bad thing, since I think we should embrace our individuality both inside and out. The white boys in our neighborhood for some reason didn't bond with my son who is extremely good natured. Even after playing on the same sports teams for years the bonds did not solidify as I thought they would. This didn't deter my son, he now has a number of friends crossing the economic and ethnic landscape, but the majority of his close friends are friends of color. This, despite his once lilly white neighborhood.
In 2012 our neighborhood is incredibly different than it was ten years ago. We now have a native Korean family living in a house behind us. Next to their house is a family of Palestinian Americans. And, a block away a family moved in who have also adopted children both of color and not (and currently have nine school age children). In addition, a number of additional families have moved in with young children. The neighborhood is now much more diverse and filled with young people. My daughter has a number of girlfriends of a variety of ethnic backgrounds close to home. What a difference ten years have made.
Last week my son and his friend and my daughter went over to the Glencairn neighborhood playground to play. My wife and I walked over with our pooch a little afterwards. When we got there I was amazed to see the playground alive with children of color. The once little used playground had a four on four football game going while a number of other children played on the equipment. Another thing that struck me was that of the ten children I saw playing, nine were adopted by three families and, all the children have at least one white parent.
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