When a Grandparent is a Different Color from their Grandchildren
Something happened in Texas a few days ago that proves we still have a long way to go when it comes to treating others the way we would want to be treated.
According to the article on The Huffington Post this is what happened.
Scott Henson, a political consultant, said he was walking home from a roller skating rink with his 5-year-old granddaughter Ty last Friday night when he was stopped by a female deputy. The officer told him that there were reports of a white man kidnapping a black girl and he was ordered to step away from Ty as the officer questioned the girl.
“He’s my Grandpa!” was Ty’s response, according to Henson’s blog.
Scott Henson describes himself as a Texas redneck, white and middle-aged. His granddaughter Ty is the five-year-old daughter of his goddaughter. Mr Henson babysits Ty often. Twice in the last three years, he says he has been stopped by officers and questioned aggressively.
While Mr. Henson is old enough to understand (even if the way he was treated wasn’t fair), Ty isn’t. How sad that she has seen her grandparent treated so rudely and been scared by the police twice.
And this will probably happen again at some point in the future. If not to Mr. Henson, to other grandparents. Why do I say that?
A new study from the Pew Research Center just released this week says that interracial marriages in the U.S. have climbed to 4.8 million – a record 1 in 12 – as a steady flow of new Asian and Hispanic immigrants expands the pool of prospective spouses. Blacks are now substantially more likely than before to marry whites.
Daniel Lichter, a sociology professor at Cornell University says that race relations have improved in part because, “Mixed-race children have blurred America’s color line. They often interact with others on either side of the racial divide and frequently serve as brokers between friends and family members of different racial backgrounds,” he said. “But America still has a long way to go.”
I am sure Scott Henson and his granddaughter Ty would agree.
Blessings to you and yours Deborah! Thank you for commenting!
what a sad story that a police officer would be rude to a grandfather. Of course they were only looking out for the child because someone allegedly said she was being kidnapped. Um…what’s wrong with that picture if a person has to think like that and not realize it’s a wrong thought. If the child was being kidnapped there wouldn’t be peace in the situation and you’d see it! Get real, people, we are humans, no matter the color of our skin. God made us, every single one of us, all precious in God’s sight.
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Ai ai ai! A few times I’ve been asked if my son is adopted because his skin is darker than mine, but there’s been nothing hostile behind the questioning. I don’t think anyone’s asked his gramma and great gramma about him about all, although his skin is substantially lighter than theirs.
It’s amazing to me that someone couldn’t even conceive of any of the more logical alternatives as more viable than kidnapping. Ugh.
I was browsing my Google Reading and the word Texas caught my eye….as did the headline.
This is sad and I feel for the little girl. She, though is very lucky to have a wonderful Grandpa!.
I’m from Texas and we raise our grandson…so this just hit me and knew I had to read it.
Mommie…AGain