It was a somewhat racially charged day for the Singh's today! First, as Nishu was walking into daycare (I was already there) the only African American child in the class got all excited because she thought it was her dad. Everyone quickly realized it wasn't her dad and was, in fact, Kiran's papa. But his other friend pointed out, "She (the African American girl) is black...black just like Kiran's papa!" Of course, Kiran corrected her...his papa is brown not black. I guess they're all trying to figure this whole race thing out!
Later, at dinner, the restaurant had a poster for the IU basketball team right next to our table. It had a picture of a scene from a game, the schedule, and at the bottom of the poster were pictures of each player. Here's how that conversation went:
Kiran: Who are those people?
Nishu: They're basketball players.
Kiran: No, those people (pointing to the pictures at the bottom).
Nishu: They are basketball players, too.
Kiran: But they're white.
Nishu: (stifling his laughter!) Well, white people can play basketball.
We were trying so hard to hide our laughter. I'm not sure how these stereotypes develop so early. We certainly haven't talked to him about race and sports...maybe we should, though, as he seems to be formulating some false stereotypes!!! Funny, nonetheless!
