|
I still remember being a little kid and overhearing someone say that my neighborhood had a lot of "colored" people in it (this was the polite terminology then, which I guess gives you an idea of my age, LOL). I LITERALLY spent weeks (months?) at my window hoping to spot one because I assumed that "colored" meant colors like in the big box of crayons! I got a little bit optimistic whenever I saw someone in a varying shade of brown but none of the purple, green or blue people ever appeared. I was terribly disappointed because I really, really, really looked forward to seeing one of these people (sort of like a birdwatcher catching sight of a rare bird). Even a full year later I remember that I still kind of kept an eye open, just in case.
It was a real letdown when I learned that "colored" just meant "brown" because there were plenty of darker-skinned people around & they didn't seem any more exciting than the white people did.
|