Peach,
Tan, and Brown
It
was black history month
My
daughter was in 1st grade
They
studied great black leaders
A
new one every day
I
asked her all about it
When
she came home after school
She
said it was all very interesting
She
found it very cool
But
the thing she said she wondered
About
the people in this town
She
asked why they were studying blacks
When
there weren't any of them around
I
said "Your teacher's black
So
is half your class"
I
could see from the look on my child's face
That
she thought I was daft
I
said "Your teacher's black and we are white,
Both
races live in our town"
She
looked at me and said "We're peach
And
her teacher is a nice brown."
The
students in her class
Are
peach and tan and brown
There
are no blacks there are no whites
Not
in our home town
I
knew that she was right
The
rest of us are wrong
There
are no blacks, there are no whites
Only
shades of peach & brown
I
tried to explain, my words failed
My
daughter knew what was right
Brown
is brown, brown is not black,
And
no way can peach be called white.
I
asked her teacher to explain it to her
How
the colors that she sees
When
on a face brown is black
Only
then she believed me
It
felt very wrong, telling my child
That
the crayons are not labeled right
If
I color a face brown, it is black
And
a peach colored face is white
My
little first grade child
She
knew what was right
Brown
is brown, not black
And
peach is peach, not white
My
little child, she was right
The
rest of us are wrong
There
are no blacks, there are no whites
Only
shades of peach and brown.
©
Barbara F Gregory 1997*
*Sing
this to your heart's content. Xerox, including the copyright, and hand
it out to friends. Perform it with your group. If
you want to record it, that's OK, too. LOL!! Just send me an email and
give me credit for the words.
