Directly next door to me live somewhere between 4 and 10 children. Not really sure the house always seems to be in some kind of transition but there are three children aged 3, 4, and 5 who are always around. The 5 year old, big sister, Steph, is the leader. All three kids are black, and I’ve never seen anyone at there house who wasn’t black. Our neighborhood is a mixed neighborhood but I would say it is still primarily black as well. As such, the children long ago informed me after seeing my mom, that she was probably a light skinned black woman; I think because they just have never interacted with a Mexican before.
I talk to the kids a lot and have grown accustomed to picking up extra things for them when I get stuff for Olguita. Extra Highlights magazines, bilingual children’s books, stickers, colorfully mint candies… little tokens. As such they’ve grown quite accustomed to running to my front yard anytime they see me leaving or arriving. A few months ago, I was leaving and Stephy came running with the other two on her tail. “Laay-Nuh!” (yes that is how they say my name) “Laay-Nuh, are you white or are you light-skinded [sic]?” All I could do at first was respond with a “Huh?” and the question was repeated verbatim. My response “I guess I’m both of them”.