Colorblind

My kids are colorblind, in the best possible way. We have made a point to share our views that ALL people matter with our boys. We are all God's creation, even the people that rub us the wrong way. God loves everyone. We are all created in His image. And on a less spiritual note, we all bleed red.

One of my children has 31 kids in his class. He is one of only four white children in the class but he has never noticed that. These kids are his friends and he tells me stories about school that only mention his friends and how they played, never the color of their skin or the language of their origin. My boys love people and really don't see color. It makes me proud as a mother to see that my children are colorblind.

The problem is that I have failed them in teaching about racism. I have taught them well that the color of ones skin doesn't indicate the character within but I didn't realize that I was missing something in this lesson until recently.  The news stories that have broken our hearts, the stories of racism at its fullest, have also reached the ears of my children. One of my boys, having heard only small clips of some of the stories, told me one day that the man who died must have done something wrong because no one would shoot someone just because of the color of their skin. That would just be stupid.

My heart stopped at that comment. I've shared my love for all people with my children. And in our quest to raise colorblind adults, I have helped perpetuate the problem. I have taught a message that forgot to share that racism still exists. I have children who think that someone would only cause harm to "bad guys" and have forgotten to teach them that we live in a broken world where people hurt other people sometimes without provocation and sometimes because of the color of their skin.

I'm thankful that I realized this mistake now, while they are still young. Now, while I still have a place of great influence in their lives. I don't want to perpetuate racism by raising adults who don't believe racism still exists. I don't want to raise men who turn a blind eye to injustice simply because they don't believe injustice happens. I am happy that my boys are colorblind but I want them to grow into men who are more than colorblind.