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Parents need to teach children not to use race language
Dear Editor,
Having just read the letter about disrespect in referring to people of a race not our own, I think more should be done by parents when their offsprings are still young to let them know that this practice is unacceptable, and follow up by letting them know what is acceptable.
In the late-1960s, when I heard my child, at the time living with his father’s parents, use the ‘C-word’ to define Indians, I was so shocked and I corrected him sharply, telling him if he ever said that again in my presence, to expect a slap. The family seemed shocked, upset.
Later on, I explained at length to him that his “other grandfather”, my father, was Indian and through his sacrifice to give me the education I had, I was able to help my husband, his father, in his studies, so that he, in turn, could have an easier life. Years later, in London, he pestered me to see a photograph of my father, mainly because one of his high school class teachers, himself from India, had suspected him of having Indian ancestors, and said so!
Respect for all has to be instilled in children while still young. In the early 1960s, when we lived in Campbellville, an Indian brother and sister would pass through the street in the afternoon selling herbs from a tray. The black children of a ‘nice’ family would taunt them, by following, stamping and muttering. The poor herb sellers could only respond by shouting “black man, black man”, the parents of both groups no doubt unaware of their children’s behaviour.
The world over may forever be beset by race problems, through skin colour, texture of hair, etc. I am waiting with bated breath to see how my favourite royal prince’s romance will turn out, his lady friend’s mother being a black woman. Will he ‘return to his roots’? In August 1993, when I visited Buckingham Palace during the first week, maybe the first day, (as I recall) of its opening, in the picture gallery, there was a portrait of George III’s wife, Queen Charlotte, whose facial features were definitely negroid. Broad nose, ‘generous’ mouth, frizzy hair – the lot. Queen Victoria, to me, was the white image of her. I read later that there was much controversy about Charlotte and her marriage to the British monarch.
Perhaps history is about to repeat itself. A Guyana contact told me that in an album held by her family in the Caribbean there is a group of the family, including Charlotte. Interestingly, Prince William’s children bear the names of “George” and “Charlotte”. A diversion from doom and gloom – an inspiration in universal race relations.
Geralda Dennison
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