Makes You Want To Cringe

Last night, my daughter said something that stunned me. We were watching something on tv that had nothing whatsoever to do with her statement. She said, "Daddy, I'm not comfortable."

I asked her what she meant.

She said, "I'm not comfortable around Black people."

Now, I'm not the most politically correct person in the world. In fact, I'm pretty f$#kin' far from it. But never, ever, ever have I espoused such a concept as that to her. She's 9 years old, for Pete's sake!

I kept questioning her and found out that there's a little girl in her class who's been hitting my daughter, and won't stop when Dear Daughter asks her to. I asked her if she's said anything to the teacher, and she said she had, but the teacher didn't do anything.

I kept telling her that this girl is just mean, and that it had nothing to do with the color of her skin. That there was no reason to be afraid of Black people in general, just because her tormentor happened to be black. Her mother and I have tried to raise her with this ideal; that just because a few people do something, it's not an indictment of the entire race.

I just fear we're losing.

Walrilla