Family Oreo photo taken on hike in the woods.

In the waning days of the school year, I am happy to report that the new school principal at my daughter's elementary school finally can tell my daughter apart from a girl who's only similarity is that she is in the same class and is the same height. Sure the girls are both African American, but they wear their hair differently, and their skin tones are different, and one wears glasses.

Last year my daughter's principal, who was African American, would say, "Hello little Ms. D," when she saw her in the hallway. She would also invite my daughter as well as other students to lunch regularly. I developed a nice relationship with her when we both read Langston Hughes to the fourth graders when my son was in fourth grade. She provided some of her own experiences growing up in Detroit, before she read Mother to Son which starts, "Well son, I'll tell you: Life for me ain't been no crystal stair."

My daughter's new principal seems to doing a fine job, she just hasn't impacted my daughter or our family like her previous principal.

As white parents raising strong, compassionate, self confident African American children I relish opportunities for our children to have strong, self confident, and compassionate African American role models in their lives.

While our district couldn't keep her previous principal in the district, I am glad that they have hired a Superintendent who who appears to be extraordinarily capable and happens to be African American. Even though, I doubt my children will even meet our new Superintendent - her leadership at the top will help to improve our schools, set the tone for increased diversity in hiring to reflect our multi-cultural district, help to narrow the achievement gap with which our district struggle, and improve community relationships after our district recently closed of our most racially diverse elementary school.

This picture is making the rounds on many Facebook pages. It is disturbing when seen through today's politically correct lenses. I decided to look into the picture further, to understand the complete character of Franklin. And, while Chris Rock might be right that Franklin doesn't talk in the television specials, he has plenty to say in the comic strip and was a very good friend of Charlie Brown. I think it speaks well of Charles Schultz that he added Franklin to his strip in 1968. Did, you know that Franklin's father was a Vietnam Veteran. MLK Jr. was certainly speaking out against the Vietnam War prior to his death. I also, wonder about this particular still when regardless of where Franklin was sitting at the table, would he still feel that he was isolated at this all white Thanksgiving dinner. And, as for Snoopy being at the table, the entire strip is about an anthropomorphizing dog. 

In this link http://peanuts.wikia.com/wiki/Franklin you'll see a strip about Lucy and Franklin arguing over ice time at the local pond. Franklin says that he needs time to practice his hockey so that he can join the NHL and Lucy points out that there are no Blacks in the NHL - which I believe was true in 1974. He was called out on it and Charles Schultz defended his column as a joke with no intended racism. Perhaps he could have benefited having subtle racism sensitivity training. Or, he could have added one more pane which had Franklin say that he would be the first. We measure progress by celebrating the first. I prefer to celebrate that in a tumultuous time in race relations in our country, Franklin was the first kid of color to enter the Peanuts Comic Strip.

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Here in Michigan there has been much remembering of the time Mr. Mandela came to Detroit's Tiger Stadium four months after he was released from prison.  49,000 people attended.  Andria and I were there too, along with our close friends, Joe and Steph who are now my daughter's Godparents.

I spent some time thinking today about Nelson Mandela and what an impact that he and the struggle for the end of Apartheid had on my life.  

Andria and I would meet at the soup kitchen in the basement of Wesley Foundation for lunch while we attended WMU in the late 1980's.  There was a passionate graduate student, John Lee, lecturing on how WMU was the fourth university to divest its retirement portfolio of businesses doing business in South Africa because of student action.  MSU was the first university to do so.

He was the leader of WMU's South African Student Organization (SASO II).  The II was used to show solidarity with the South African organization of the same name which had been banned by the South African government and kept that name as long as it existed.  The organization's faculty support came from Professor Don Cooney who also sat on the City of Kalamazoo's City Council and the Reverend Don VanHoeven.   Our Congressman, Howard Wolpe, fought tirelessly in the U.S. Congress to free Mandela and to divest in South Africa and was a supporter of SASO II.  

We quickly joined and attended a number of marches from campus to City Hall urging the city to divest its portfolio.  "Break the links, break the links, break the links, Apartheid stinks."  We also marched as tribute to the thousands who died in the struggle to end apartheid rule.

We also took trips to Chicago to protest the South African Consulate.  We never did get past the front door.  We tried.  I'm pretty sure we had handcuffs at the ready to cuff ourselves to furniture.

Three years after I graduated Nelson Mandela was free.  It was the first time that I saw that the voices of many can ban together to achieve political change.  My part was minuscule and done in the confines of my comfortable Mid-western university and its cozy soup kitchen.  But, it was something.  And, when people join together to do something about an injustice positive change can happen.  It may be incremental but the pathway to freedom is build on individual pavers - one brick at a time.  I was born in the middle of our own struggle for equal rights, but in the mid 1980's I had an opportunity to do something to help the ongoing world wide struggle. 

Little did I know then, that I would spend my lifetime, as a father of black children, continuing to keep the "Eye on the prize," and pushing toward equality.  

It was an incredibly moving day, being serenaded by Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin and being in the midst of so many who fought for equality in the US and South Africa. And, hearing Mr. Mandela's inspiring words.

"Your solidarity has given us enormous strength and courage. We will not forget you."

It was like he was speaking to me, personally.

Thank you Mr. Mandela.  Your words and passion will echo in my children's voices.

Mr. Neslon Mandela's speech at Tiger Stadium - June 28, 1990

A Chocolate Dog Tale:  A memoir of infertility, adoption, rivers and a bread loving dog

By Erich P. Ditschman

A Chocolate Dog Tale is a story about life happening in the face of adversity and how laughter is a curative tonic for when life kicks you in the butt.  As high school sweethearts, Andria and I get married after college and plan to have a baby between Andria’s first and second year of law school.  The plan fails miserably and is a harbinger of a ten year struggle with infertility and failed adoptions.  But, while our world seems like a protracted battle, Andria’s grandpa introduces us to a Chocolate Labrador Retriever puppy we name Amos, who rescues us from the desperation of infertility.  In addition to finding our life filled with the antics of our bread loving dog, the memoir follows Andria and I as we undertake adventures including backpacking, boating, skiing and canoeing that never go as planned as we endeavor to live a meaningful life in the face of losing control.  We discover the possibility of adoption which brings us face to face with difficult choices and introspection regarding the midwest working class bigotry embedded in our families and questions our ability to raise a child of color.  It chronicles our pursuit of an open adoption plan, wrought with detours and pain, as we expose ourselves to birthmothers in an effort to be chosen to adopt their baby.  The memoir is rooted in the places that we live, their history and their natural features.  Rivers play a grounding role in providing a backdrop to where everyday life happens as we struggle to become parents. 

“A young Gen X couple falls in love in high school, gets married after college then finds their well planned life crashing on the shoals of a sea of obstacles as they try to achieve  parenthood.  With the urging of Andria’s Grandpa, she and Erich adopt a Chocolate Labrador Retriever puppy to try to bring joy back into our lives.   A Chocolate Dog Tale, Ditschman’s first memoir, takes the reader on adventures never far from the rivers he loves.  In part, Tale is an ode to Michigan’s rivers, the history that forms around them and and the connectedness to place that they provide.  But Tale never departs far from the star of this story, Amos, the lovable Chocolate Labrador Retriever who’s passion for lakes and bread often keep Andria and Erich’s minds off their pain and filled with thoughts of how to retrieve their wayward bread loving Retriever.  Ditschman brings humor and honesty to the telling of the incredible relationship that can quite unexpectedly form between pets and their humans.  Follow Erich and Andria as they quietly address the frustrations of infertility and adoption while inadvertently expanding their family along the way.  With a cast of characters that are easy to recognize in our own families, Tale will make you laugh out loud, bite your nails in suspense and struggle to hold back tears as you follow the three through their life together.” #achocolatedogtale

Who decides who is black?

We watched this yesterday with our eight year old daughter and thirteen year old son.  My son watched with interest.  My daughter danced around the living room to the annoyance of my son.  I recommend watching it with or without accompanying dancers.  Soledad and the young men and women who appear on the show do an outstanding job of addressing a pertinent subject in our household and our community.