It wasn’t always Tiger
If you think white privilege and racism have not touched your life or not been embedded on your heart I want to tell you about a flash back to my childhood, about a counting rhyme that came flooding back to me . Eeny Meeny Miny Moe .
I have often have seen the quotes “Children learn what they live” and along with that “Children are not born to hate, they are taught”. Many of us become indignant with that and defend ourselves saying “I never or I would never teach my child to hate”. But if you grew up in the fifties or even sixties the most loving, kind, white parents taught an Eeny meeny miney moe counting rhyme so children could pick fairly who would be “it” for a game of tag. The counting rhyme used a derogatory name for Black people (it now has been changed to Tiger) and as kids we thought nothing about it; but the privilege was planted. At Christmas time we didn’t refer to brazil nuts as brazil nuts. There was another name and we didn’t think twice about saying it; another seed was planted.
As a child I often heard adults referring to people who spent their money unwisely or without thinking as ****rich or if they had to fix something without spending money it was called ****rigging. These were loving adults who would never teach their children to hate and would deny doing so; but the planting was there.
So many of these things flood back to me in memory and there are so many more examples. They will forever be with me, tattooed on my heart and I can’t deny them. I will use them as reminders that I…that we….have to do better.
If you think white privilege and racism have not touched your life or not been embedded on your heart I want to tell you about a flash back to my childhood, about a counting rhyme that came flooding back to me . Eeny Meeny Miny Moe .
I have often have seen the quotes “Children learn what they live” and along with that “Children are not born to hate, they are taught”. Many of us become indignant with that and defend ourselves saying “I never or I would never teach my child to hate”. But if you grew up in the fifties or even sixties the most loving, kind, white parents taught an Eeny meeny miney moe counting rhyme so children could pick fairly who would be “it” for a game of tag. The counting rhyme used a derogatory name for Black people (it now has been changed to Tiger) and as kids we thought nothing about it; but the privilege was planted. At Christmas time we didn’t refer to brazil nuts as brazil nuts. There was another name and we didn’t think twice about saying it; another seed was planted.
As a child I often heard adults referring to people who spent their money unwisely or without thinking as ****rich or if they had to fix something without spending money it was called ****rigging. These were loving adults who would never teach their children to hate and would deny doing so; but the planting was there.
So many of these things flood back to me in memory and there are so many more examples. They will forever be with me, tattooed on my heart and I can’t deny them. I will use them as reminders that I…that we….have to do better.