A new generation's view on race

Just last week, my 7 year old son came home from first grade with an interesting perspective. Because February is black history month, he has been learning a lot about African Americans and their roll in the American history. He was a bit upset when I picked him up last Wednesday, and after I finally got him talking, his response was "Mommy, I don't feel very special because we are only learning about African Americans and not people like me". It took me a bit to think of things from his perspective. He is one more generation separated from the horrible segregation that took place in our country, one more generation away from treating people differently just because of the color of their skin. We have never placed an emphasis on one race over another in our house, and obviously we hadn't really discussed that part of our nation's history to our son. We have always taught him that God created everyone to be equal yet made each person an individual. However, after he came home last Wednesday, we had a quick crash course in the civil rights movement and the reality that the African Americans were not treated with the respect that is due to all humans during some of our nation's history. In our house, we want our children to identify with great historical figures regardless of their race. We want the focus to be on the character traits of the individual rather than the color of their skin. Thankfully, Heritage Makers has a fabulous template to make a book for our children called History Heroes & the Hero in You! I can't wait to publish the book and help him identify with so many great Heroes in our History!