Martin Luther King Day

Voices much more eloquent than mine speak of truth and justice. All I know is that when I was a little girl, I lived in a multiracial neighborhood, and my first crush was my five-year-old neighbor. It never occurred to me that being different colors meant anything.

Alan lived next door at Lakeside Apartments. His skin was shiny and smooth and beautiful. He had a round smiley head topped with short, black fuzz and when he talked, his head moved in a peaceful way. We were racing matchbox cars in the dirt between the sidewalk and the green wet grass. I wanted to see what his dark, smiley face would kiss like. His cheek was soft and smelled like toothpaste.

Fifteen years later I would fall in love with a young man of a different race, and we would marry and have two beautiful daughters.

You who love your fellow human, understand that if it isn't color blind, it isn't love. Children are lovers, and they know the truth of this.