It was one of the few times in my life I’ve been stunned into silence. As a first-year teacher, fresh out of college, I had to call the parents of my students and tell them about the upcoming orientation. Felicity’s mother answered the phone and after I had told her who I was, she immediately said, “Oh, I’m so glad you’re white!” I wasn’t sure I heard her correctly, as she pushed on, “We just moved here from Pennsylvania with the Navy and here we are in the Deep South and I was so afraid Felicity would get a black teacher.”
If I’d encountered this woman today, I would have used my grown-up talent of melting her brain with carefully chosen words until her ears fell off her head, but at that time, I was too stunned and too young to even think.
I reported the incident to the principal who shook his head and told me not to say anything to her, and to please not put my plan into motion of getting one of the black teachers to stand in for me on “meet the teacher” day.
Felicity was a beautiful little girl with long blonde hair. During the first week of school, she snatched her hand away from the black children if they tried to hold it and would get up and change seats if a black student sat next to her. It boiled my blood and made me want to cry.
Then I remembered, “Love one another as I have loved you.” It wasn’t a suggestion Jesus made; it was a commandment. Love the unlovely, even if they don’t deserve it. I thought, “Okay, little racist-in-training, you’ve met your match.” “I’m getting ready to love you into being a better person.”
You can’t scold or shame a child into changing what they’ve been taught, and the same is true for adults. God’s love conquers all and should be our only weapon of choice against hatred. It’s far more powerful than we realize.
Over the next few weeks, I used every opportunity I could to tell the students how much I loved having them in my class and how happy it made me that we were all going to be good friends. I mentioned that we all looked different from each other, but when we cry and laugh, we all sound the same.
Children are usually colorblind. They don’t notice or really care about skin color. They are more interested in climbing, building, splashing and jumping. Their joy, natural kindness, silliness and child-like love eventually won Felicity over.
No one had to threaten or embarrass this little girl. We didn’t have to have big intervention meetings with her parents and the guidance counselor. With a little nudging from me and the unconditional love from the children around her, she became a precious part of our class. I have a feeling she also went home and set her parents straight about who was going to be her friend. Her mother calmed down (and was further humbled when Felicity brought lice into the classroom later that year).
“Unless you turn and become like children, you’ll never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Once again, the ability to change and follow the commandment of loving our neighbors and our enemies is easy when we have the heart of a Kindergartner.
You can read more from Leslie Anne on her blog at: https://leslieannetarabella.com
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Colorblind love in Kindergarten - AL.com
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