Underaged Kids discussing Race

This episode discusses a unique conversation between two male best friends, a black kid and a white kid between the ages of 10-12. What makes the conversation so unique is that it involves race and ethnicity. The kids apparently have overheard multiple conversations by adults and older kids and thought that they should figure out how they should be perceived: for the black kid, Black or African American and for the white kid, White or Caucasian.  

Imagine, kids this young trying to identify how they should be perceived by others. The black kid asks the white kid, hey, with all the talks we have heard from adults in our families and from older kids, "Should I refer to you as White or Caucasian?" As for me, "Should I be referred to as Black or African American?" The white kid, however, appeared to view being called Caucasian as a word that places him above his best friend and others not like him. On the other end, the black kid viewed the word African American as a word that sounds professional. The black kids further believes that he and his best friend are going one day be excellent professionals in whatever careers they choose. With such as the case, he strongly feels that they both should want to be called African American and Caucasian because those words represent being professional and will identify to others who they are now and in the future. I can only imagine as the conversation continued, the two agreed that African American and Caucasian is who they are from now on, and, I can only hope that their parents and other adults in their families have heard about their conversation and discussed it with them as individuals. 

At the end of the day, young kids feed off of the conversations they hear from adults and older kids, so always be cognizant of what you say around them. Case in point, you have these two bright young kids believing that they already need to figure out their identity in terms of their respective ethnicities and why being referred to as African American and Caucasian is important to their lives right now and once they become professionals in their respective careers.  

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hey, hey, what's up out there, everybody? I'm your host, Greg Mack at the You Better Plan on It Podcast. You can catch me every Tuesday at 12 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. You can also catch me and follow me, by the way, by going to You Better Plan Onit Podcast.budsprout.com. Check me out. I promise you there's a whole lot more to come. Now, with that said, this is gonna be short and to the point, but I want to give you something involving race and ethnicity that I found to be quite entertaining because it was a conversation that I learned about here recently between two young kids between ages of 10 and 12, a black kid and a white kid. Two gentlemen that I understand are smart, intelligent, very savvy already at their young ages. Because I tell you, as adults, you should know that kids learn from us how we speak, how we act, how we do things. They get it from us. And when they have conversations, especially when you take kids and they have an adult level conversation with kids, it can be quite entertaining and quite unique. And what I mean by that is I learned that these two kids talk specifically about race and ethnicity in terms of their backgrounds. They're best friends, they've known each other since they were four. They've been in the same schools, they hang out together, even though they live in different neighborhoods, their communities are close enough, but they spend a lot of time together, their parents and families spend time together, so they just are accustomed to being around each other. And when you're that way, you tend to kind of do things in a similar fashion. And the reason why I'm saying this is uh it came up from that the black kid asked the white kid, hey, the conversations that we've been hearing from from from the adults and our families is, you know, would you refer, would you prefer to be referred to as white or Caucasian? And for me, I guess that's should I want to be referred to as being black or African American? Now think about this. We're talking about 10 to 12 year olds who hear adult level conversations and decide that it's time for us to pick and choose where we fall. You know? And with the black kid asking the white kid that can you imagine what that conversation is like? I was just trying to imagine it because I found it to be humorous, but very insightful. When the white kid said, Well, I've heard that term, I'm not as familiar with it, but I've heard the term Caucasian enough. Um, and I think I don't know that I would want to be referred to as that because I think it it looks like because of what I've seen and heard from it, that I would put putting myself like above people like you, that my best friend, you know, to call myself, hey, I'm Caucasian. You know, he said, I'd just rather be white, you know, I'm a white kid, a white boy, and and I'm okay with that, you know, because uh the word Caucasian, I just think, you know, just based on what I've been around and what I've seen, you know, when I go to work with my father and and be around my family, I I kind of just feel like, you know, I'm a white kid, and I like it that way because Caucasian seems uh like I might be above someone else, and I'm not. Now, on the other side, I I hear that the black kids said, well, you know, when you say black kid or black boy or black, I think I prefer to be called African American. And the reason for that is, and you should be want to be called Caucasian because we're going to be excellent professionals one day. And I don't like the word black, just sounds kind of too plain to me. And they say, you know, he had this interesting look on his face, you know. I just think that the word is just kind of just, hey, you're black. You know, it's just it just doesn't, even though I know I'm black, it doesn't sound professional. But if he said, hey, you're African American, he's he just seemed to be upbeat and joyful about that word because it has some meaning to him, like this, I'm a professional, I am somebody kind of meaning. And then he thought his best friend should be, hey, I'm Caucasian. Well, I'm Caucasian, and I'm African American. I mean, they had this this this these joyful looks on the face as they begin to talk about it more, apparently, and whatnot. And then, you know, think about it. You know, white kid and a black kid, having this conversation at those ages where it all stems from the adults, us, you know, and how we talk. Because I tell you what, I can go outside right now to the park, especially in the area I live in. This is a great area, uh, really uh lovely area. But I can go out in the park and I can listen to black kids and white kids and Spanish kids and Indian kids all talking together, and they all sound similar. Now, yeah, they got different dialects and all that in terms of the way they say things, but I tell you what, I don't know what it is as far as a cultural positioning in life, but black kids tend to have, in my opinion, and in my experience, more of an influence on all the other races uh combined in terms of people speaking in a similar fashion that we speak as African Americans and as black people. Why that is, I do not know. I guess it's the cool thing. Maybe it's just something totally different. But I, you know, I was at the park the other day and I listened to several different ethnic backgrounds having conversations, black, white, I think it was an Asian kid and a couple others. And they all, although they had different access, they all seem to talk as though they were part of the African American culture. Why that is, is I I don't know. It's just something that is commonplace. The way we dress, the music we listen to, and all that, it has really dominated the scope of the United States in terms of if you watch these kids, how they do things, the African-American way is definitely something that's become more commonplace than ever before in today's world. And that's a great thing. You know, everybody's got their own thing to each his own. However, you do it is fine. But think about it, you get this black kid and this white kid, who are those young ages, between 10 and 12, having these dynamic kid, adult-like conversation about race and ethnicity, trying to figure out where they fit in and who they are in terms of what they should be referred to. And you have the black kid believing that both he and his white friend should want to be noted as African American and Caucasian because they're going to be professionals. And those words just sound more professional. On the other end, you get the white kid who thinks that from what he's been around and learned on his own is that I don't know that that word seems like, and I guess maybe where his father works at and how things go and what he's been around with his family, maybe it's something dominant there to where the white person seems to be over everyone else. I mean, that could be the case, and that's just my assumption because he said I think that word sounds as though it puts me above you and other people, and I'm not. I'm just a white kid. And that is something interesting to think about. So I definitely want any and everyone who's tuning into this or watching this or whatever, wherever you may be, please kick back what you think. Kick back what your expertise is or what you believe when you hear about this, how it goes. You know, I'm very interested in seeing what your thoughts are in terms of these two young gentlemen having a conversation about ethnicity. And it doesn't matter what ethnic background you're from, what race you're, I just want you to kick in something. Tell me about it. This one was so curious to me. I mean, I wish that I could have been there and been a part of it, just to listen to it. And and maybe I would have chimed in, I don't know, but I probably would have done it more listening to it, just to see what they were. And they said these two kids kept talking about it and talking about it, talking about it, because it just got really intriguing, more and more intriguing the more they talked about it. About, well, where do we fit in and what should we refer ourselves to? You know, should we be black? Should we be white? Wow, why should we be? Why can't we be African American and Caucasian? You know, and I'm sure as the conversation went on, it just got a little bit more intense. And again, I wish I could have been there, but I'm telling you, I just really want to get optimum feedback on this one because these are kids, and they learn these things and they do and say things because of us adults and the older kids who talk a certain way. You know, and I know black is black, white is white, Indian is in it, Chinese, Chinese, whatever it is. But when you get groups that intermingle on a daily basis, it seems that you always find a situation where one ethnic background dominates the others to a point because maybe that ethnic background is much cooler. And if you know they dress this way, they dance this way, they do this way. And and it doesn't matter whether the black, the white, the Chinese, whatever you are. It doesn't matter who you are. I'm just curious about the conversation between these two young kids. And I wonder if there are other kids, and I imagine there is out there, having these same interesting conversations. So again, kick me some feedback on this one right here and tell me what you think about these two kids. And you know, if there's something there, you know, you know, if it sounds like they shouldn't be having this conversation, or why are they having this conversation? Or I believe this kid has influence over that anything. Give me a snippet of what you think. And again, you can catch me every Tuesday at 12 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, or you can also follow me and check me out, and I definitely would appreciate that. You can go to You Better Plan on It Podcast.budsprout.com. And I tell you, we we can have some great conversations about some great things. But again, I just want to give you a little bit of that, you know, a little snippet of that about the two young gentlemen, the white kid and the black kid, having that interesting and unique conversation. And again, I'd appreciate your feedback. So, with that said, take care of yourselves out there. God bless you, and always remember a plan that succeeds is a plan that can fulfill one's need. Thank you, take care, and we'll chat again soon. Hurrah! Simplify.