“Wait . . . they had a white baby?!?!” |
“Wait . . . they had a white baby?!?!”
Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu
2012-09-01
Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu
Stanford University
My niece recently had a baby, a beautiful boy. The proud grandmother showed the photo of the newborn to family members and everyone oohed and aahed. One of his cousins looked at the picture and said, “Oh he’s so cute!” But suddenly a puzzled look came over him and he blurted out, “Wait . . . they had a white baby?!?!
When I heard this story I thought, Oh, it’s already started. People see colors and label according to what they see. The little cousin saw white and labeled the baby white. But mom is Japanese as well as Irish and Scottish. Dad is Irish as well as African American and American Indian. The baby is therefore all of these. But he is already being labeled by a single category, a race.
And he is already being looked at in relation to his family. The little cousin was intrigued because to him mom is probably white and dad black, so put black and white together and what do you get? A white baby?…
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