Racism: Views from the...playground.

You read it right. One month ago while visiting relatives in mid-western state, we decided it was such a beautiful evening that we headed outdoors to a local park. My godchild, Amillah is two years old, and loves the outdoors. She observes every different rock and insect, and loved to explore her surroundings. She wasn't shy and her vocabulary was becoming just as expansive as the mountainous skyline. She loved saying, "Hello, how are you?" to strangers if they were in near her while on errands in the area.

That evening, as her mother and I exited the car, and approached the grassy middle of the park, she started to run towards the play equipment. There were a few children of various ages playing with each other. We saw Amillah approach their direction and while we were in earshot, the oldest (about 6 years old) gathered the others, who appeared to be her siblings (three in total) and told the others, "Come here, come here- wait a minute.”

They stopped their game of tag and she told them, “Remember, we can't play with her because she is Black.”

They looked really quickly at my godchild, Amillah, like she was some strange alien -looked back at each other, then they nodded to the eldest and ran off in another direction like lightning. Her being as friendly as she is, and happy to be around others, tried to run and follow them but she couldn’t.

I glanced at her mother who was still in shock at their comments. I hurried to follow Amillah, scooped her up playfully in my arms and said, "Come on baby girl, let’s go to the swings!"

"Did that just happen?", I wondered as I pushed her on the swing. With modern challenges facing social justice, I never experienced anything like it at the playground. At two years old, she didn't understand them. She loved the swings and was just fine. We were the ones in disbelief and processing it. Some people might wonder how racism is prevalent in America but it’s simple. An older generation keeps the mentality and ideas (myths/stereotypes/hatred/bias) from the past onto a steady "livestream" of the "rules" spoken only at home, taken as factual, unquestioned and clearly enacted "outside." Whatever is the culture of the household, frames your outlook and experiences. What was the criteria for their outside social interaction in their household in 2020? Being White. Period.

Later that week, we ventured into another playground and usually the mode is allow her to play and stay close in case she needs help with climbing. At times, other children already excited at play would cross paths with her and keep going. She loved finding the "middle" slide since she could slide and land on her "feet" independently. Another child joined her with climbing and sliding with his mom close by. They were all smiles with us. I must admit, we were somewhat on guard since our last visit, and that was a relief. We guessed his age correctly and she exclaimed it was amazing that he could do such much more with each month. She said his name was Colton and we told Amillah to repeat his name for us. She did it perfectly! He was adorable. She allowed him play space but stayed close enough to steady him if he had a misstep on a ladder. She took a phone call while keeping an eye on him and Amillah alternating turns going down the slide. It was as if they were playmates from their playpen.

After an hour or so, it was time to leave, and we gave Amillah the 3 minute warning and told her to wave goodbye to Colton. She reached to give him a hug while smiling so quickly--we tried to pull her back due to social distancing but his mom said it was the cutest gesture. Their encounter was a nice balance to the other one we experienced because one day, Amillah will know and have moments where she's excluded from aspects of society by her peers since it's being perpetuated for yet another generation.

We said our goodbyes, wishing each other the best of health, and to stay safe.

And, I wished for a better world for them. Period.