TRUMPED ON THE PLAYGROUND

What to tell her handsome young son when his classmates assured him his days at “their” school were about over because President Trump would make sure he was on the other side of The Wall he declared would be built by the Mexican Government.

This Mom wasn’t a person known for paying attention to politics. She, as a single parent, was busy holding down two low-paying jobs and making sure her one kid got the best America had to offer.

Well, at least he was getting the best of the America that she could give him, and one of her gifts to him was to avoid letting him know that he was in any way different to the white-majority kids at the school she drove him to and picked him up from each day.

“A Wall?” she questioned one of her neighbors.

That Trump name, Mom sorta thought she remembered from television and some show called The Apprentice – where he fired people – and for her somewhat foggy recollection; they weren’t even Mexican.

Trumped on the schoolyard playground?

While this mom was working hard to make life as comfortable as possible for her young son, his playground counterparts had moms and other family members who were just as busy relishing in their new opportunity to take their country back.

Those kids, the owners of the school, those who called it their school, didn’t make up the idea of a wall that would separate them from the rapists and criminals who they’ve heard cross the border into “their” country.

Are they schoolyard bullies?  Or are they simply kids repeating the conversations that go on in their homes?

When white parents believe the country belongs to them, most certainly, their children will follow the family value system and believe the schoolyard belongs to them.

The comfortable life that Mom believes she can provide for her son isn’t going to become a reality based upon her hopes and dreams.

“Yes, a Wall” the neighbor answered, and added she suspected the Donald would be deporting  African-Americans once they settled down from foolishly demonstrating against police brutality and the killing of George Floyd.

Now, Mom was totally confused. The sarcasm didn’t register. She only knew her son didn’t understand what the kids on the playground were laughing about and neither did she.

It’s a time for all parents to take a look at who they are, who they thought they were and, for some, what racist beliefs they are fostering in their homes. It is long past time that we provide our children with an accurate age-appropriate view of the American reality.