Adopted Haitian Child Learns to Accept Blackness because of White People Love

[bcholmes]

I read this in the dead tree version of The Globe's Facts and Arguments page yesterday:

When he was about 3, I was tucking him into bed and he said, "When I turn white, I'm going to take the school bus with the other kids."

I smiled down at him and said, "When you turn white?" He nodded his head, his eyes bright and hopeful. I let him say that for a while and then one evening, I put my hand softly on his chest and told him what I think he already knew but was hoping, magically, might be otherwise.

"You are a beautiful black boy, and one day you will be a handsome black man."

"I'm not going to turn white?"

"No."

He scrunched his face and turned away from me, burying his head in the pillow.

— "More than black and white "

The last Facts and Arguments page that touched on Haiti was equally cringe-worthy. Haiti was "unknowable" and mysterious. Urgh.