For once I’m going to write a post on a heartwarming incident. Well I find it heartwarming.
About two months ago I was on the bus going home. (This stuff always seems to happen on buses!) In the middle were a ‘black’ woman and her two daughters, one looked about 4, the other about 6. At the front was a ‘white’ woman and her daughter, about 4 years old too.
The ‘white’ daughter kept looking back at the two ‘black’ girls. Or more specifically at their hair. She was intrigued by their Afro puffs (don’t remember if they were natural or extensions) so she turned to her mum and asked,
“Mummy, why do they have hair like that?”
Without skipping a beat the mother replied that they have bubble hair.
“Why?”
I couldn’t hear this part but it seemed to be something along the lines of… well, the difference between ‘white’ & ‘black’ hair. So then the daughter asked,
“Do we have bubble hair?”
The mother simply replied no, even while the daughter was touching her lank strawberry-blonde hair to test for herself.
Maybe they didn’t hear (most likely) or didn’t care, but the ‘black’ woman and daughters just sat there minding their own business.
I was happy. The ‘white’ mother had the balls (metaphorically of course!) to satisfy her daughter’s curiosity about ethnic differences, in public where anyone could’ve eavesdropped & criticised/judged/interjected, AND answered her questions in a way that was both inoffensive & tailored to the girl’s level of understanding.
And cute!
One Tawny Stranger 