Christmas Programs and Such

Last night, my sister performed in her first recital (she plays the French Horn) as a part of her school's Christmas Extravaganza. My entire family went to show Mini Me some support. When we finally got there and got settled, a white family sat a seat away from my younger cousin. The principal asked many times for people to close gaps between them so that the only empty seats were on the end of the rows. The little white girl looked up to her mother and whined, "I don't want to sit next to those Black people." I didn't hear what her mother said but the fact that the little girl didn't move into the empty seat let me know that it positively reinforced her worries. Well, not long after that, the principal walked around and asked her to move down before the program started. She slid into the seat apprehensively, watching my little cousin the entire time as if he was going to sprout an extra arm. To spare my little cousin from this incident, I swapped seats with him. The little girl watched me, almost amused for a while. After deciding that I was as normal as humans come, she turned to her mother and said in what she thought was a whisper, "Mom, I thought you said all Black people smell like pigs."

Ignorance and hatred begets ignorance and hatred.