Why?

Few weeks ago, my son told me, “Mom, there is a new kid in our school”
“From where?” I asked
“India”
“really? Which part?”
“What do you mean which part? He is from India Mom !”
The look on his face was that of someone who thinks his mother has gone bonkers.
He had a point !
He did tell me new kid is from India and why does it matter to me which part of India he is from? I guess I am still a slave to the years of cultural divide practiced in India!
I learned a lesson.

He also mentioned that most of his friends found the new kid’s accent difficult to understand and that is one reason why no one played with him at school.  ( there were other reasons too, like not knowing how to play hand ball, AFL, etc)
And before I could say what I was going to say, my son said” Yes mom, I know when someone speaks with a different accent than me that means they know at least one language more than me”
I smiled, cause it was something I taught my kids when they were very young ‘ not to judge someone because of their accent’.
I added another feather on my maternal crown !!!

Yesterday, my son looked visibly upset when I picked him up from school.
Before I could ask, he said “Mom, I am very upset”
“What happened?” I asked
“Last Monday, someone called the new Indian kid F word bloody Indian and he was very upset. I told him to tell the teacher and he was scared. So I told him to tell his mother”
“And?” I asked
“Can you imagine what his mother said? She told him ‘just forgive the boy who called you F,,@$$ bloody Indian”
My son is upset because he knows that he can come to me anytime and I will not let him down and he felt his friend was let down by his own mother.
Last year when a classmate of my son told him ” to get off the barbie” in other words, my son was burned in the bbq and hence his skin is brown, I went to the school authorities, ensured that the school teach the children about racist taunts and why it is not acceptable.

I am so angry..

I don’t understand the subservient mentality of Indians. Why do you fear standing up for your self? Why do you have to kowtow to others when you are a human like everyone else?
Why do you not stand up for yourself and for your children?
Why do you accept racism?
Eleanor Roosevelt once said, No one can make you feel inferior without your consent and when you don’t react instead accept racism, you are telling others, hey I know I am inferior, go on, walk over me..I hereby lay down at your feet !

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