"What Color is She?" A defining moment on the front porch at Cracker Barrel

It is an unofficial southern tradition to attend Sunday school/church then race like a bat out of hell to the nearest Cracker Barrel restaurant for brunch. There you will find a diverse group of people rocking and waiting on the worlds longest front porch to get their grub on. 

Thanks to my granddaughter and a little 4 year old white boy named Will I experienced a defining moment on the front porch at Cracker Barrel on a hot, Sunday afternoon.

It all begin when my just learning to walk grand daughter led me over to where Will and his family were sitting. His family gushed over my grand daughter making me very proud. Will very politely introduced himself and told me how old he was. Then he  asked "What's her name?" I told him. "She's pretty" he replied.   I said thank you. Then he looked me dead in the face with his big, brown, innocent eyes and asked "What color is she?" At first I pretended I didn't hear him and tried to change the subject but he wasn't having it. He looked me in the eye and asked again "What color is she?" I didn't know what to say. I looked at his mother for a clue but she was looking the other way acting like she hadn't heard him. I looked at my grand daughter and thought to myself what color is she, and what am I going to say to this child? So I said, she's brown.

Will thought about it for a minute then he looked at me and asked "Why is she brown?" Oh heck, I thought, what do I say now? So I looked over at my daughter, who also hasn't heard a thing,  and said because her Mommy and I are brown. There, that's the end of that, I thought.

Wrong. Still looking me in the eye Will asked "Why are you and her Mommy brown?" So I did what any self respecting adult would do, I told Will we were brown because God made us brown. Without hesitation Will said "Oh, OK". Whew, I thought we were going to play the why to infinity game.

I was about to break out and start singing Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world, red and yellow black and white we are precious in his sight, etc but they called Will's family's name over the loudspeaker. I thought they were going to run over each other trying to get away, to be honest, I breathed a sigh of relief too.

I pray I handled this situation the right (no pun) way. I knew how I answered the question could shape young Will's perception of race for years to come. I still remember how I discovered I was colored. He seemed satisfied that it was God's will. At four years old young Will may not know about race, but he knew about God, and that's a good thing.

I learned something about my self sitting on the front porch at Cracker Barrel on a hot Sunday Afternoon. I don't know why God made me brown, but I'm glad he did. I'm also thankful he put Will in my life to remind me God made and loves us all equally.


Racism is a thing not a person.

It's about what you do, not about what you say.

God doesn't love whites more than blacks and vice verse.

All of God's people are created equally.

The things that divide us are rooted in sin (Greed, Pride).

We need to be wall breakers instead of wall builders.

In order to overcome racial prejudice we need understand and respect each others differences and experiences.

When love and understanding move into our hearts it has the power to remove all forms of hatred.

It's time for us to be the solution and not the problem.

In order to end racism we must confront it head on.

Consider this a belated RedEye Sunday sermon.