Para Los Ninos

by jenncard

The other day I was reminded of a product I came across while tutoring at a local Provo elementary school. They’re called “Multicultural Crayons” by Crayola, a seemingly family friendly company that shows a black boy on their website homepage.

Is anyone even slightly disturbed? First of all, unless albinos are their target audience there is no need for a white that bright. Secondly, Gingers are forced to go to another box of crayons to get the red for their freckles, thus leaving them embarrassed and filled with self-loathing that will only manifest itself more in the future.

Call me old-fashioned, but I miss the days where children had an entire box of colors to depict themselves. I’m talking blues, greens, and purples, you know… real colors. And here I was thinking progress was being made in schools with math questions like, “If Abdul has 3 carrots, Marta has 2 carrots, and Abakada (this is a real name) has 4 carrots, how many do they all have together?”

Crayola, reminding kids of their differences since 1903.