Race doesn't matter

In the last few weeks I've been thinking about how naive I was (am). When we started the adoption process I wrote an email to the woman who would become our (first) social worker. I told her we wanted a baby and "race didn't matter". Because it didn't-at the time. What that comment really meant was that I would love a child regardless of their race. But race mattered very much-I just didn't know how much.

Before the shooting of Trayvon Martin I was worrying about Tesfa's identity. How do I teach him american history in regards to race and culture when that isn't his history? But how do I tell him about Ethiopian culture and heritage when he isn't living that day to day? Tesfa is an african american male who came from Ethiopia and trying to navigate how to make him aware of both cultures is going to be interesting (challenging).

But Post-Trayvon Martin's death is a whole new story. Now I worked with kids for years. 80% or more of them were black. I knew that racism existed but I had no idea to what degree. I keep seeing posts on facebook saying "race doesn't matter". Its' not their fault they don't know. Because we (white people) never really know--at least not until one of our kids is black and then we have to do everything we can to try to figure it out. I'll never really know. But I will do my best to understand.