"Where would I sit on the bus, mommy?"

I've mentioned before that each year around Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day my kids always have tons of questions about race, racism and Jim Crow. They learn about the black/white divide of MLK's time, and wonder where they fit with that duality. Usually, they're learning about Rosa Parks and the question has been about where they would sit on the bus. Today, the questioner was Maya, and the first question was about why the KKK burned crosses on black people's lawns. She wanted to know if that sort of thing still happened, and I had to tell her it did, but not as often.  She asked if "they" would have burned a cross on her lawn "back then," since she is "kind of a little dark." Lots to unpack there, hmmm?

If you have Asian children and are getting similar questions this time of year, you might want to check out a previous post, Asian Americans, Adoption and Jim Crow.