Children's Emerging Racial Categories, Part One...

A week or so ago, while the kids were at music class, I had a chat with our friendly neighborhood nun, who had decided to check in on how I was doing. Not so good, I admitted...and from there we had a conversation that ended up with me in tears. Twenty minutes later I had to pick the kids up from music, still red-faced from crying. Fifth graders being the lovely, tactless creatures that they are, eleven voices instantly called out: "What's wrong with you? You been crying?"

Yes, dear ones, I was, but I'm okay, thanks for asking, you don't need to worry about it. On to other things. And fifth graders being the lovely, self-involved creatures that they are, instantly turned their minds to other things.

Except for Marquette. "Why your face red?" he asked.

"Because I was crying a little bit. I was upset."

"But why your face red?" he asked again.

I thought that maybe he was having a typical does-not-compute Marquette Moment until he added, "My face don't get red when I cry. Why your face get red? I mean, your no-o-o-se all red, your chee-eeks all red, your e-ey-es all red--"

Yeah, I get it, Marquette. I look like shit. Thanks.

But--"Good question, Marquette. Well, my face is red because my blood vessels are a little swollen from crying. Your blood vessels swell too, but it don't show because the brown pigment in your skin covers it up. Since I'm white, I don't have that much pigment, so the red shows through."

Marquette pondered this, giving me a moment to feel very proud of myself for this simple yet elegant response to a child's curious query. After he had digested the new information, he had a follow-up. "Pigment's what makes black people brown?"

"Yes. It's like a chemical that your body makes to color your skin. Everybody has it, but some people have more than others, so that's why we're all different skin colors."

"Okay. Pigment makes us black. White people ain't got no pigment, so you get red when you cry. Now. Here's another thing. Is it a chemical that makes your nose all pointy and mine all round?"

Um...well...see, it's like this.....Dude. Stop asking questions. It's time for math.