Monday, June 15, 2009

just a mirror of a mirror of myself

A conversation I had with a 6-year old who was tagging along with her mom at work today:

    kid: Are you... American?
    me: Yes... are you?
    kid: No.
    me: You're not?
    kid: No... (holds up her hand) see my skin, I'm Indian.
    me: What does it mean to be American?
    kid: I don't know. Wait, what color are you?
    me: (holding up my hand next to hers) I'm like you.
    kid: So you're Indian too?
    me: Yes.
    kid: But you said you were American. (I nod) You know, I was born in America.
    me: Me too. So you're American.
    kid: But my parents were born in India.
    me: Mine too. So we're both Indian and American, right?
    kid: Oh... yeah. Wait, you were born in America, and your parents were born in India?
    me: Just like you.
    kid: Cool!


And that concludes this episode of Pediatric Identity Politics.

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