Tuesday, March 9, 2010

History Lesson

I've had lots of interesting conversations with Elizabeth lately. Here's the latest...
Elizabeth: Are there really people with red skin?
Me: Red skin? Are you thinking about the words from Jesus Loves Me?
Elizabeth: No, I just thought about it. Are there people with red skin?
Me: Well, I think that would refer to the Indians, but their skin really isn't red.
Elizabeth: Where did the Indians come from?
Me: They were in the USA when we, the people with white skin came here from Europe.
Elizabeth: Where did the black people come from?
Me: Some mean white people went to Africa and stole them and brought them here to work on their farms. They were very mean to them and beat them and sometimes killed them when they didn't do what they were told.
Elizabeth: But they don't really have black skin right, it's brown.
Me: You're right.
Elizabeth: Where are the Indians now?
Me: Again the white people were very mean and made them move to Reservations. On a reservation everybody's an Indian.
Elizabeth: Did you know that not all people with different colored skin are mean?
Me: Yes I did. There are mean people with all different colors of skin, but God loves you no matter what color skin you have and you shouldn't be mean to someone or think bad about them because of the color of their skin. Did you get to pick your skin color?
Elizabeth: No, I guess that's why you shouldn't make fun of people or not like them because of their skin color. They didn't pick it. God made them that way.

I'm not sure who did the most teaching, but I think she got the point.

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