Racy Race.

A few years ago we took the three kids to Taiwan to meet my husband’s extended family. Our eldest was a Kindergartner, second in preschool and youngest was under a year. We were celebrated there. Freakishly famous. Taiwanese people literally followed us like we had three eyes and eleven toes and after a few days of random people asking to take photos of the kids and me (my hair was about ten inches high from the humidity), the kids started to take notice.

“Why do you think people are asking to take pictures of you kids?” I asked.

“Umm, it’s because we’re half black mom.” Our five year old said.

Almost wetting my pants laughing, I responded, “No honey, it’s actually because you’re half white!”

My husband is a dark skinned Asian. Taiwanese back as many generations as traceable, on both sides. People in Taiwan saw white couples together and maybe other races touring from time to time, but after almost ten days throughout Taiwan, we saw no other mixed race couples. No one was racist, by any means, but intrigued by our kids and many asked to open the stroller carriage to peek at the “white Asian baby.”

My take-home from our trip was that I loved (love, love, still love) that my kids don’t see race. They think (verdict’s still out) their dad is black and when they describe people, they do it by what color shirt he or she’s wearing, their hair (vanilla, crinkly, straight’ish) and the color of their eyes.

In the Midwest, where I was born and raised, we had a handful of Korean kids who were adopted by white families, one Chinese family and maybe (for short while) a black family. One teacher was black in the sixth grade and was referred to as “Effie,” and I thought nothing of it.

Our kids are blissfully and beautifully color-blinded and judge people solely by their actions. And I could not be prouder. I like to be different, swim upstream a bit, but am more than thrilled to know that my kids being half-a-anything here in the bay area is nothing less than the “norm.” Them being referred to as “hapa haoles” in Hawaii used to offend me, but now I chuckle thinking they might actually be just a bit ahead of us all – hitting it head-on and actually giving it a title that is seemingly acceptable – aren’t we all just a little bit mutt anyway?

In a-hundred years we’re all gonna be sorta brown’ish and sorta dumbish-smartish but hopefully a lot more open-minded’ish everywhere.