Lisca inspired me with her T-Day post to show you this book.
See... I was born in the early 1970s.
The wild times, the new times. The times where anything was OK! We were free.
I grew up in a small town and once, on a bus with my Grandma, I got all excited and went loud, "Look, Omi, a negro!!!"
And what did the man do?
He smiled at me :-)
This was no forbitten word back in the day!!!!
And this book, like in Lisca´s story...
Here goes:
One by one stays behind, this is a book about: be careful, stay together, life can be dangerous!
This book is banned now.
Why?
Because the children have skin of a dark color.
Weee. When I bump into something the part of my skin turns red, then blue, within days greenish... now who gets colored???
This book, which has such nice rhymes and meant NEVER any harm to any people is banned.
Can you believe this?
One wonders... why are the people not "banned" then also?
Why do they share and enrich our lives (those who are integrated, this is a huge subject these days of course, but none I wanna talk about right now!!! Please, respect this).
I grew up with The Cosby Show, a family I adored!
Their skin has a darker tone than mine, really? That was not the issue!
Faith, being fair, values, THAT what is was all about... for a German (white) kid.
Please don´t mention what he is accused of. It was a big... well. It will not steal away the fun and rich times I had watching this!
Wish my Dad would´ve been that fair!
OK, the book does not end the way I liked it, not even as a small kid and it is NOT color-related:
When the last one found himself left behind... he simply took himself a wife, cause being alone is not good.
Ummmm, excuse me?!
Luckily we have passed this stage!
And color does not matter anymore, either here :-)
Admin T is Turkish/one of those little boys of the book, grown up now. I have colleagues from India, living here (hating the cold time of the year), Chinese, studied with one from Lagos, ...
The world is one, color does not matter - why is this cute book banned?!
So glad I still have it.
To free minds.
Sadly, of course this does not work for all and I could - but will not - write about the other side (I did, on occasion, when it went too "dark" for me).
Colors, religions... why can´t we be but PEOPLE???
Henry feels not involved today...
What do you think - should this cute book be banned?
Here is the English lyrics, btw, the German version at amazon is "not available"...
Humanity ... I´ll never get it. We still have the war-guilt. My parents were kids in WW II...
And what is happening right now (again) - yet we care about such a book.
Also we love "these" people at sports, right? #American Football... for example.
"We" pick what we want.
Sorry, reckon Lisca wasn´t forcing this.
But imagine 9 people in such a tiny bed!!! No wonder this old book came to my mind!
P.S. to Tom´s comment: woke is not what I meant, not at all.
Being real is what I mean.
Who picks a color, no one! We are born the way we are - important is how we are raised, what we learn!
I picked Gurri, a winter-coat that is light red with white dots and makes people smile at me.
So... I am a happy color, right?
The darker your skin is the less you see bruises, btw. I often look like a rainbow, this is not nice!
It´s genetic. I often don´t even hurt! And people say, "ohhh, what happened there?!". Me: ???
And... banning books!!!!
"We"´ve been there!
"We" burned them! There is still a place in Braunschweig marked for us to learn to not do that!!!
Why not redo this book?
Have people of ALL colors in there?
From Mr. google: "Woke is an adjective
derived from African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) meaning "alert
to racial prejudice and discrimination".
I am very alert. I see no reason to look at color and I wish religion was no matter, either!
As I said to Tom: Color of skin, to people I interact with.. has no meaning! Your heart, your thoughts, your acts, they do...
I think it is sad I get so misunderstood! I state something positive and ... this scares me a bit, also. Banned books are a horror to me, as treating people different because of the color of their skin. There are more than I want to (even one would be too much) whose "color" is "white" (yes, there are people with a genetic "issue" who are white. No sun, please, what a life! In Germany they are called "albino") - more than one who grabs a gun and shoots people for no reason. Black, white, orange, yellow... People, guys!!! Nice people, please...
