Teaching my Children to Divide

I was enjoying a typical disjointed dinner with my family this evening--half of them had already left the room--when my six year old said, "Daddy am I from Europe?" I said, "uh, you're from Silver Spring, Maryland." She responded, "my kindergarden teacher said white people like me are from Europe."

Well, good thing I was on a diet anyway, since I lost what little was left of my appetite. When Jen returned to the room I said, "hey, Jen, did you know our daughter is from Europe?" At which point my daughter reiterated what she'd learned today.

Jen paused a moment, but then, ever the good liberal taught never to question the wisdom of The State, responded "well, it's true." I said, "oh? What color are the people who live in Russia?" She gave me her typical smirk that said she knew I was right, which of course means nothing, since she always has an answer to show that I'm not: in this case, after recovering her composure, she said, "half of them look Asian." Oh, uh, OK.

I responded, "well I don't have any ties to Europe--do you?" knowing she didn't. Still not wanting to agree with me, she said, "my parents were half-Irish half-English" or somesuch. Except she was adopted, as was I, so neither of us have any idea what particular European country we might or might not have descended from--maybe we're Russian. Since we don't know, our kids will never know either.

There's a simple solution to all this, and it's what I explained to my daughter: I prefer to think of myself as an American. I said the idea she's "from Europe" is an attempt to define her racially, which I dislike. However I'm pretty sure what I said had no gravitas, since I'm just a parent, one who was told by his mother-in-law eight years ago that me and my wife were unfit to homeschool our children and was pleased as punch when we didn't and instead sent them to public school.

In case you're wondering, that public school is in Prince George's County, which is majority black. My daughter is just about the only white person in her class. I normally wouldn't bother with this detail as, quite frankly, I consider it irrelevant. But apparently this school is very interested in instilling a sense of racial identity at a very young age. I am trying to imagine what people would think if a black six-year-old in a majority white county who was the only one of his kind in his class was told by his white teacher where he came from.