Ms. Sarah, Did You Know?

One day I was working on writing an English exam in the computer room at school. The bell rang, signaling the start of recess. A second grade Nigerian girl came bursting into the room, out of breath.

“Ms. Sarah, Ms. Sarah,” she exclaimed, “we just learned about your presidents in Social Studies.”

“Oh really, which presidents?” I asked.

“George Washington. Did you know his birthday is February 12? And the other one, Abraham Lincoln. His birthday is also in February. Why do you only have two presidents?”

“Well, we actually have had more than that, a lot more, but those are two of the most important,” I responded with a smile. Then I asked, “Who is the president of Nigeria?”

She thought for awhile and said, “I’m not sure. But Obama is my president.”

“Really? Barack Obama?” I asked, genuinely surprised, “I thought he was my president.”

“No, he couldn’t be your president. He’s mine because I’m African,” the little girl stated matter-of-factly.

At this point, I was laughing but managed to tell her that while Obama is African-American, he is the president of the United States. But that it’s really neat for us to have a black president so it’s understandable that so many people respect him.

I changed the subject by saying, “Why don’t you go outside and play? It’s such a beautiful, sunny day.”

“OK, but I don’t like the sun. It made me black!”

Again, I stifled a laugh and said, “That’s not possible. I LOVE the sun and spend a lot of time in it but I’m still white!”