Hello everyone! We are back from our
trip.. we got back a few weeks ago and have been recovering from the journey and playing catch up with all the things we had left behind. It was an exhausting journey but spiritually enlightening.. I wish I could share more but in all honesty I wouldn't even know where to begin.
The last few days I had been thinking about what I should write about in my first post back.. and while my initial intent was of course to keep it lighthearted unfortunately we don't live in a lighthearted world anymore. I'm not going to start talking politics but I do want to share two little stories.
While we were away my parents took the boys to Target. The lady at checkout was of Indian descent and when she noticed my family being of a similar background she spoke to my mother in her mother tongue asking my mother where she was from. What could have been a friendly exchange quickly turned into something ugly when the white lady behind my mom started to raise her voice at the Target employee, she yelled at her to speak in English and then of course the cliched 'Go back to your own country!' My parents not wanting to create a spectacle with the boys in tow stayed quiet and left. I feel anger, outraged in fact. How about that woman go back to her country? She can't claim.. no one can claim that America is their's except for the Native American. Everyone, everyone came from somewhere else.. England, Ireland, China, India, Mexico.. it is.. or at least was our diversity, our acceptance of others that made us so special, it made us The Land of Dreams.
A few days after I came back my 7 year old asked me a question.. my 7 year old needed confirmation.. he asked me 'Mummy I am American right?' 'HELL YES!' and how dare someone imply otherwise.
Another instance:
Just last week M and I along with the boys stopped to get gas. The white gas attendant asked my husband where he was from. 'Here' my husband answered. The simple question.. 'Where are you from?' is no longer simple.. for us colored folk it's a scary question. The man continued to push.. 'but which country are you from?' 'America' was our answer. 'I'm a citizen' my husband felt the need to add, we were starting to get uncomfortable.. but the man didn't seem to notice or care. He continued, 'Are you Muslim?' to which my husband responded 'Yes.' The gas attendant simply replied 'assalamualaikum' which is an Islamic greeting meaning 'peace be with you' and we sighed in relief.
The simple exchange should not have been so frightening.. it turned out to be harmless but it has stuck with me. I just can't shake it. So I am sharing it with you..
Next week I promise to go back to being a fun happy blog. Hope you all had a great summer.. are you ready for the fall? I sure am.
