By Sonji Young
FOCUS Director of Bridges Across Racial Polarization

The roster of ethnic diversity in Mrs. Adam’s third grade class reads like something out of the United Nations’ Roll Call, including Egypt, Iran, India and Spain, in one of the St. Louis public schools that is working aggressively to embrace the evolving importance of racial equity in the classroom.  After spending time coloring with 22 witty eight-year-olds, I quickly wondered to myself how eye-opening it would be if today’s CEO, government official and modern aristocrat could illustrate their world, not through the usual PowerPoint or QWERTY text messaging lingo, but using a box of Crayola Crayons. 

As I look back on my youth, I recall that coloring was the one task that didn’t require a litmus test on race, sex and class.  No matter how hard you tried, you could never distinguish if a middle-class, Iraqi boy etched the portrait of becoming a nurse or if a wealthy African- American girl had drawn a picture of walking a dog.  For just a moment, you could transform your world into whatever color your heart desired. 

The carefree feeling that comes from coloring as a child is a far cry from being an adult, where color is still often viewed as the determinant of a person’s capabilities, dreams and ambitions.  Why you could be the best or the worst student, and still manage to lose yourself in art of coloring, but it seems that today, many are often lost in the shuffle because of the melanin in their skin.  Unlike the tones of black, white and green that are intertwined in society’s fabric, my Crayola memories have redefined my feelings of living in America today.  Where else could a mahogany-colored family live in an enormous alabaster house?  Some may not think much of a Crayola world, but it is definitely worth a shot in America today.   What crayon do you color your world with and why?