Last week, a 5 year old girl in my neighborhood saw me and blurted out, “do you wear that because you have lice?” (pointing to my headscarf)

Her mom was watching on, calm and unphased.

I was so happy and here’s why.

1/4

I’ve been in similar situations where parents shush their children: “Shh! don’t say that!” The parents feel embarrassment, anxiety etc and their kids pick up on all of that, receiving the message that differences are bad, not to be discussed, something to avoid.

2/4

But we don’t need that. Differences are there. They can be visible. And denial and avoidance is not the way to go, especially when it comes to addressing racism.

I answered: “No,” explained to her that it was my Muslim religious practice & she was happy and scurried off.

3/4

I could have been bothered but I wasn’t. She was developmentally appropriate. I satiated her curiosity. Hopefully her mom followed up w/ conversation at home.

In James Baldwin’s words:”Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced”
4/4