Question
What if We Othered Your Child and You? What if we surrounded you in a sea of blackness And in an
attempt to get to know you, Peppered you with a barrage of questions and statements That only served to
undercut your value In our eyes, if you fail our surprise battery of quizzes and challenges to test your
knowledge, your worth, your view on issues deemed insignificant by you. What if we told you you're the
first white-skinned Caucasian we knew and asked to run our hands through your straight hair of red hue?
Without regard for how our actions feel like an assault on you? On your mind, your body, and Lord, help
me, your spirit, too? Our words leave your young ones off-balance, feeling out of place Even in what used
to feel like the safest space. We let you know with our lingering gaze, you are an oddity we do not
encounter most days For we choose to isolate ourselves in the most myriad of ways What we read,
watch, see and play Is a reflection of us, our experiences, our tastes That only serve to exclude or erase
Your being, your existence. Would you persist in these dark spaces? Encourage your ill-equipped child to
shoulder the burden of educating us, all the while, fighting the temptation to say nothing and just smile?
To hide their confusion, the shock and dismay? That in a multicultural world, we still isolate ourselves in
such a way we have so little knowledge of your whiteness that we can say, you're the first White-skinned
Caucasian I've met to this day. If day out and day in, we othered your child and you, would we wear you
down? Would you begin to frown at your pale complexion, and fine thin hair? To question your right to
breathe the same air, without the awkward pauses, and malignant stares? Maybe you'd invest in
cornrows and tanning creams, as part of a carefully designed plan to make you seem A little less white.
Or would you seek the comfort of another venue, One where you were free to just be you, where your
brothers and sisters understand they are created imago dei and assert that you are,
Find the key words and explaine time change, punctuation.
Answer
If we othered your child and you, you might feel excluded and unwelcome, and might try to change your appearance to fit in. Alternatively, you might seek out a space where you can be accepted for who you are and where your identity is respected.