i have a little "dark meat" in me. so does kaitlyn. we know it comes from our great grandfather, but the nationality is a little bit in question. we think he was latino. but then sometimes grandma would change her mind and throw out greek.....anyway, it's picks and chooses people here and there in my family. it got my dad, skipped my older sister, got me, skipped my younger brother, got my youngest sister, etc. you get the idea.
in my own little family, we have "two browns"--here's how we know:
about 4 years ago we had my cousin allison's daughter, india, over to play with chandler. india is the most exquisite shade of copper brown as her dad, vasu, is from (you guessed it) india. allison and vasu also have a younger daughter, sienna.
that night we loaded up all the kids plus india to go for a ride in our sweet miniature van. india and chandler were sitting in the captain's chairs right behind me and rbc, and we could hear their little 5 year old conversation:
chandler: india, how many browns do you have?
india: what?
chandi: you know, brown people. how many?
india: oh browns! we have 3 browns.
chandi: we have two browns, mom katie. me and dad and abbey are the whites.
about 4 years ago we had my cousin allison's daughter, india, over to play with chandler. india is the most exquisite shade of copper brown as her dad, vasu, is from (you guessed it) india. allison and vasu also have a younger daughter, sienna.
that night we loaded up all the kids plus india to go for a ride in our sweet miniature van. india and chandler were sitting in the captain's chairs right behind me and rbc, and we could hear their little 5 year old conversation:
chandler: india, how many browns do you have?
india: what?
chandi: you know, brown people. how many?
india: oh browns! we have 3 browns.
chandi: we have two browns, mom katie. me and dad and abbey are the whites.
politically correct? yeah no. but by breaking it down to the easiest of terms, she managed to sidestep all the hatred and bigotry and rules that the world demands that we follow, and make it straightforward and simple & sweet.
i absolutely love telling this story because i think it would be so much better if we could all just reason like children did. i think it could solve so many problems. my hope? that we can all be color blind in the future.
here are the two "browns" in my own family: me and megan
and a photo we took a couple of years ago to actually show the whites and browns: l to r--loni (white), mindi (brown), ryan (white), michael (white) and megan (brown)
we will make some great oreos togeher.
29 comments:
Ha ha - that's so cool!
my husband is part white, part chamorro(from guam). and all of my kids have this beautiful golden skin, especially ella. i'm the only mega whitey in this house. i'm glad i married this chamorro man, my kids are so lucky! (my skin is icky and freckly) so, yeah, one white, four browns.
I love how innocent kids are and can just say it like it is. The first time my friend's little boy saw a black person in line at the grocery store, he told him he really needed a bath.
Ok - Was Vasu an EFY counselor at BYU? If he is the same guy I am thinking of, I had the biggest crush on him. So funny! He does have beautiful skin.
That is a cute story. Happy Weekend To The Mind!!
I heart you Mindi! That is SO sweet. We have one brown, Kaitlin wants a brown little boy pronto. I told her she is going to have to wait on that one.;)
That is so cute! I think you can tell from our pictures that we have no browns in our family. If we were any more white - we would be clear.
I do love me some browns though :)
um, we have all whites because we're from germany. consequently, we're also all haters.
this reminds me of my friend erin (thequeenofclean.blogspot.com) who called a childhood friend "brownie" because she didn't know her name. good times.
this is such a sweet story! I love how you portrayed Russ in the story. (angry)
6 non-browns here, BUT me and my son can get Dang tan in the summer.
right now he is. I'm not.
Love it...kids are so innocent! Micah is biologically half middle eastern so he gets very BROWN in the summer. We had a similar convo once where I was teasing him about marrying our little neighbor girl (red head and very light peach ;) and he said, "But brown and white can't go together". I was horrified and wondered where he heard that 'cause fo sure not out of my mouth. We talked it through and learned about how we are all the same color on the inside...
That is a great story...
What a great story. We've never had the issue in our family of skin color because we have it all. My aunt married an african american and all their kids are gorgeous. Also, I have two cousins that adopted african american babies. So since my kids have been little, it's always been a non-issue.
Oh, and I changed my name to holly h. so that you could tell the diff between me and all the others.
Scott always calls Vasu Chocolate Thunder and the girls thought Scott was being rude and he had to explain that Vasu refers to himself as Chocolate Thunder as well.
We have one brown and one white and two color changers. My kids are a quarter latin blend (some mexican/mexican indian/spanish) they are as white as white can be in the winter and the most beautiful brown in the summer. Last night my four year old asked Dad why he wasn't brown like the rest of us. I really think that kids see color as something unique and beautiful but not something that makes us different.
Yay! Thanks for writing an awesome journal entry for my (non-existent) journal! I had totally forgotten this story and I'm SO glad you reminded me of it! Love ya!
My husband is a quarter Mexican, and I'm a whitey, and those kids of ours have a great olive tone to their skin. So I guess you could say I have one brown, one white, and two greens. =)
K- that is put so well- kids are the best, so honest! We have 4 whites & 1 brown- unless it's summer, then we have 2 little browns with the brightest blonde hair you've ever seen- 1 pink w/ red hair & a couple of whitish browns!!! -heheeee
luvs
jodi
I am sooo wishing there was hope for some browns at my roots. None such luck. The closest thing to me being brown was in the 12th grade. All that ditching class for a killer tan for graduation. Yeah, not since then though. The hubby however has some kinda brown in him from somewhere cuz it just aint fair how quickly the deep red turns "brown". Me-sad!
HA!!! Thanks, that was awesome!
We (of course) have one white, that'd be Daily Hero, the rest of us are brown Mexis :D
I love the conversations between little kids. So sweet. most of the time.
We have 6 whites, and 2 browns if you count Will Smith....
Such a good mother you are. She could have said a lot of other words that...hum... may not have been "politically correct"
We have 2 white girls and 4 white boys, but we are Mutts with Italian,Irish, and Polish mix. But I tan pretty fine I must say.
I was little so dont blame me people
Chandi
We are all green with an occaisional swathe of brownish-gray. Green because we are all adaptable chameleons, and the brownish-gray for our JAP, Jewish-American-Princess attitudes.
how funny that your daughter commented:)
I will absolutely HAVE to post a picture of my husband's family. He has a Native American grandmother way back somewhere in the line whose blood pops up now and then. And among all of Kelly's blond, fair brothers is one sister--she looks just like Poccahontas. Dark skin, long black hair. It's amazing. Everyone always thinks she's adopted.
It's summer, so I guess we have 5 tans and 1 white (Mark doesn't get out much). Love that story! My older brother was adopted (as well as my twin sister and I, but from different families) and has some indian blood. The rest of the family has blonde hair, blue eyes while he stands out like a sore thumb with his dark hair, skin, and eyes.
I love how sweet that was...
Shoot, our family is a mix like none other. I'm half Mexican American, but there is no way you would be able to tell by just looking at me. I had a friend introduce me as "the whitest Mexican you'll ever meet." My dad, who of course is 100% Mexican American, and brother are both dark. My mom, sisters and I are as pale as pale can be.
My soon-to-be-adopted-son Austin is half Mexican, also. We love the confused looks people give us with Ryan and Elijah being blond-haired and blue-eyed, Austin with dark skin, hair and eyes, and me with the dark hair and ghostly pallor.
I love the comment ! Well I have 55 browns and 2 whites. haha My kids say the same thing too. I also make Mexi-Pinos. So my kids are every shade of brown they could be.
Post a Comment