Blog / interracial family

A couple years ago we shared a popular video series  making its way around the internet:

Sh*t White Girls Say...To Black Girls Part 1

Sh*t White Girls Say...To Black Girls Part 2

Sh*t Mixed People Get

Today I ran across "@#$% People Say to Transracial Families"--I've heard it all! People, watch the videos...if you have heard any of these things come out of your mouth, educate yourself and DO BETTER!

I am invisible

I hate to be invisible

I am invisible

Do you think I am invisible?

I think you think I am invisible

You can’t see me

You can’t see Haley

I am a girl

I am biracial and half white

Is it the white in me you don’t like?

Is it my black that’s invisible to you?

I have brown hair and brown eyes

My lips are red

My shirt is yellow

But you don’t see me because I am invisible

Or are you blind?

 

Here is a tiny treasure that I found in the library this summer. A book of poems, All the Colors of the Race, written by Arnold Adoff. Based on his own interracial family, Adoff writes from the perspective of his biracial (black/white) daughter, which I find very interesting. At first I was a bit thrown off because I generally prefer poetry to rhyme, however, his style is considered "free verse" poetry. The more I read (and re-read) them, the more I fall in love with them! I hope you do too. The lady said by Arnold Adoff The lady said:       what are you going to                                                  be                                 when you grow                                 all the way up? And I said:      a woman. And she said.     No. I mean what are                                           you                                           now? And I said:   a girl. And she said:   No. I mean what do you call                                         yourself? And I said:   Honey. Baby. Sweet                                        potato                                        pie                                        face me. If she finds it hard,                      I find it easy      to make it hard for her.

I'm Your Peanut Butter Big Brother by Selina Alko Interracially married, author/illustrator Selina Alko came up with the idea for this book while pregnant with her first child. She wondered what the child might look like--and created a darling children's book that reflects the many possibilities.

Big Brother wonders whether the new baby will look like him. He blends from semisweet dark Daddy chocolate bar and strawberry cream Mama's milk. He's the baby's peanut butter big-brother-to-be. Will the baby's hair look like big brother's soft, crunchy billows of cotton candy, or Noel's string beans locked this way and that, or Akira's puffy head of broccoli flowerets? Will the baby's eyes match big brother's--hot cocoa footballs set wide apart--or will they be a perfect pair of pennies?  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the illustrations! This will be a favorite in our home for sure! Order here.

Andrew's Loose Tooth by Robert Munsch I've been on a quest this summer to find books that reflect multiracial families. This is a super funny one! The book is about...you guessed it, a little boy who has a loose tooth. His parents, the dentist, his friend--even the Tooth Fairy--find wacky ways of pulling Andrew's tooth that no one should ever try! (WARNING: do NOT read to children who have not already lost a tooth...you will scare them to death!) One of my favorite things about this author (aside from his books being hilarious) is the fact that he incorporates diverse families in the illustrations. This family appears to have a white mother, white father, white child (Andrew) and two brown children. Andrews best friend is Asian, the Tooth Fairy is brown and the people in the city are are very diverse. Here's dad with the kids:

Read it, let me know what you think!