barriomulas.com - My Daughter and People with "Darker Skin"

My buddy Dave is a very dark-skinned African American.

My daughter doesn't necessarily live in a part of Florida where they are too many folks like Dave so I'm supposing she hasn't had the chance to see too many folks "like" Dave. Despite such, she visits Columbus, Georgia and her native Puerto Rico enough to be comfortable around people no matter their skin color. (Which I think it quite an accomplishment, considering the fact that she lives in a pretty upscale - for Puerto Rico standards - part of Florida.) I know that contact with such groups in the U.S. is always under the condition where they are the majority. The psychological aspect where everybody is the "minority" can be quite eye opening for children learning about what a "minority" actually is.

During one of my visits to Georgia with Amaia, she took up a liking for Dave. While she would shun other friends she would be more than happy to allow Dave to hold her or walk with her whenever we went out to public places. "Bye Dave!" she'd scream whenever he'd be leaving.

After a fun week in Georgia with Dave and crew about two years ago, Amaia joined Crystal and I for a weekend in my brother's house Atlanta, Georgia. My brother's neighborhood is composed of nothing but African Americans (in the half a dozen times I've been there I've only seen two non-Blacks; one of whom was a Latino and the other an Indian store clerk). Shortly after arriving to my brother's neighborhood, I pulled into a gas station to fill up my tank. "Look!" my daughter screams with an expression of joy. "IT'S DAVE!" she belts as she points her finger at a random Black guy who was filling up his car right next to mine.

I couldn't stop chuckling to myself for the next hour or so.

"Daddy!" she tells me during a recent visit to Florida. "I like people with darker skin!"

Jaja.