"DIVERSITY" BANDAGES

​My family is multi-racial.
 
I am “white”
My hubby is “brown”
My kids are “mixed” 
My granddaughter is “black”
I have a stepmom who is “yellow”
 
You name the color, and we got it in my family.
 
We are all different colors, different races and different cultures.
 
Yesterday, I tripped on unlevel concrete and took a nasty fall.  The palms of my hands took the brunt of it and got banged up pretty bad.  Tore off skin, bleeding, pebble embedded into flesh I had to remove with tweezers., etc.  Ouch!
 
But once I did that and cleaned my wounds, I reached into our medicine cabinet to grab some bandages.  I reached in my “diversity” pack of bandages and grabbed these three – all different colors.  And that made me wonder….
 
How many households in America have a package of bandages that are multi-colored for different skin tones?
 
Do we have it only because we are a multi-racial family?
 
Should a “white” family have a box like this too, even if all of their skin is the same color?
 
In my opinion, YES.
 
A while ago I posted about multi-racial toys and how all races of people should have all colors of representation of toys.  I think this falls along those same lines.  Having “diversity" bandages (totally my nickname for them) in your cabinet helps keep the idea of representation and inclusivity ever present in our lives and at a pivotal time in our society.  How great would it be to have your child’s friend of a different race/skin color over who needs a bandage to be able to pick one closer to their skin tone?  It’s the little things that go a long way, trust me.
 
It also exposes your children to the inclusivity mindset of other races.  If your “white“ child has only ever seen “white” skin tone bandages all their life, then what response do you think they would have when they see the “diversity" bandages for the first time?  
 
My point being is that you do not need to personally have a multi-racial family to buy, use and support multi-racial/diversity themed products and services.  
 
I know lately there has been a lot of hate being passed around when someone of a particular race wears, uses or participates in another culture’s stuff (cultural appropriation).  And obviously, I am totally against someone making fun of a person’s race and/or culture and doing these things in a mocking and disrespectful way – but for those of us who want to show our children the beauty of these differences between us all and do it to give honor to and respect them – then by all means let’s do it!  That is not appropriation, it is APPRECIATION!
 
My skin tone may be “white,” but I’ve lived my life around many different races and most especially different CULTURES (Italian, American Black, West Indian and I married a Hispanic).  I believe there is so much more room to grow in being able to tell the difference between race and culture.  Just because you are a certain skin color, doesn’t mean you have to do certain things, believe certain things, and act certain ways.  Those things are related to culture, not color.
 
Lastly, in my opinion, DIVERSITY of THOUGHT, regardless of the color of your skin, is even more important than diversity of color!  But we can tackle that one another time.
 
#mommaletics #randomthoughts #diversity #inclusivity #diversitybandages #diversityofthought #culturalappreciation #race #culture #multiracialfamily

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