A Dream Realized

#4 is a Daisy Girl Scout this year. We were looking for an activity she could do and my artistic child asked, “Isn’t there one where I can just do arts and craft?” There is. It’s Daisies.

I called the council and they matched us with a troop meeting just down the street from our house on the one night when nothing else happens. A perfect fit.

What I didn’t know was that it was an all African-American troop. I have no problem with that, but worried about my shy child who is scared of anyone new and different looking. How silly am I?

She never even noticed that the other girls’ skin was so much darker than her own. At least not enough to mention it to anyone then or later. All she saw was a table of girls her own age who welcomed her with bright, wide smiles. They allowed no shyness on her part. When she held back, the biggest girl picked up my teeny one and set her on the bench between herself and her own best friend. My girl was wearing the uniform, she was one of them.

I talked to one of the leaders later that first week, and she said none of the other girls seem to have noticed that my daughter was white. She said they’ve talked about her shiny, sleek hair and her big brown eyes. They’ve mentioned how she’s so little “like a baby doll.” They’ve pitied her because she has neither braids nor beads for her hair and because I just pulled it back with a simple clip.

My daughter noticed the same thing. She stood her ground this week when I put the pony-tail holders with bubbles on them in her hair. She wanted two different colors; I wanted them to match. She quickly told me that I had no clue because the other girls in her troop got to wear all the colors they wanted and even got beads. Life is no fair when you have a mother who gives you boring hair. She left the house with purple on one side and yellow on the other, looking “exactly like everyone else.”

I remember hearing the “I Have a Dream” speech when I was in high school and doubting privately that people could ever really be color blind. Then my five year old showed me that the only color worth noticing was on the cute things in their hair. The rest of it is just the way God meant it to be, but oh….to have braids with pink shiny beads….that would be heaven.

Dr King, If you’re watching…I think we might be there.