Tag Archives: black

Saying Goodbye to President Obama

Posted on by January 21, 2017

Barack Obama is no longer the president of the United States. That sentence carries a disquieting and heavy truth for many Americans.

While putting my 9-year-old to bed last night, I thought it fitting to read one of our children’s books about Obama. It’s “Barack Obama Son of Promise, Child of Hope” by Nikki Grimes. It tells Obama’s life story, touching on his experiences that are familiar to us: His roots in Kansas, his biracial background, and his time in Chicago.

Achieving Martin Luther King’s Dream: Are you doing your part?

Posted on by January 20, 2014

Today is Martin Luther King Day, when we look back on a courageous man and the movement for equality. Has King’s dream been realized? No, it hasn’t.

Interlocking fingers with my son.

Me and my son.

Yes, we have a black president, and as monumental as that is, it doesn’t mean we’ve achieved his dream. We are much, much closer than we’ve ever been, but still not there. Not when we’ve got a justice system that unfairly metes out “justice” from racial profiling in arrests to sentencing laws that are … Read more ...

Talking About Race With My Biracial 5-Year-Old

Posted on by January 21, 2013


It’s interesting being a parent of biracial children in that like with most things with motherhood, I’m fumbling around in the dark.

Digging through my 5-year-old’s backpack, I ran across a worksheet on Martin Luther King, Jr.  Curious, I asked him what he learned about King in school.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Image from mattlemmon.

He told me that white people used to not let brown people do things and King made a lot of white people mad because he was helping the brown people.

Hmmm. Well, kinda.

Since … Read more ...

Celebrating MLK Day in the Comfort of My Own Home

Posted on by January 19, 2012

The morning of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I began to wonder what we could do to celebrate the slain civil rights activist.

So I did what I always do when I have a question. I went to Google. After finding no kid-friendly events in the surrounding area, I saw that the library was scheduled to have their storybook time for toddlers. That’s where someone on staff reads a few books to a room full of tots and often adds a song or two.… Read more ...