"Hey Black Man"

On a sunny Sunday, the grandparents had all the grandchildren over for arts and crafts and after, the adults decided to paint. One of the kids grinned with excitement and wanted to show me his new game, not knowing my name, he yelled.."Hey Black Man". The room got quiet for a moment, next, you could hear the echo from the laughter. You could see the innocence on his face. He paused, confused, and he began to cry. I called him over, consoled him, and introduced myself. Hey, my name is Robert. As the only "black" person in the room, he used his gift of sight to call me.

Around the same time, another kid asked me, "Why is your skin color different from your palms?"

In my 29 years of living. 14 years in Africa and 15 years in the South. I've never had to face or answer the question regarding race or racism. In the roughly 6 months in West Michigan, that has been a topic I've had to wrestle with.

Whether it's the experience at a restaurant when the moment I walked in, the place got quiet, everyone turned around and stared at me. You can hear a pin drop and not one waiter stopped to serve me.

Or

In a conversation, they recognized I had an accent and they asked where I was from originally. I told them I'm from Ghana in Africa and their response was, "That makes sense, that's why you are successful. Unlike the blacks here."

Or

The individuals who refused to go to a baby shower because the baby is half black.

How do you navigate through this? How do I respond...

How do you have a conversation with a mixed-race kid on the topic of race, racism, and belonging?