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“My kid (or my family) doesn’t see skin color”  I’ve heard this over & over especially during the BLM marches.  I would like to ask “does your family not taste diverse flavors?  Hear different sounds or beats, making you move differently to the particular cadences & rhythms of each sound, nor acknowledge the origin of the music?”
Not talking about skin tone or addressing race out of politeness devoids anyone, especially children, the entryway to acknowledge and accept the difference between them and others.  This is especially true amongst young kids, because they are forming neural connections at a rapid pace, which have not been developed into more specialized reinforced pathways. This is why kids can learn any amount of languages at a particular age. They can hear and distinguish sounds, we as adults have a hard time hearing. Same goes for colors. Children can observe nuances that we, as adults have become habituated to overlook. A decade ago I designed an immersive workshop for individuals to learn how to mix their skin tone out of the 5 primary colors; blue, green, yellow, red and white. Kids were often the most accurate, most receptive and least judgemental. “ I see blue in my skin!” vs adults “there’s blue in my skin?”WE all come from these 5 colors, no matter how different we look. Conversations about race took place.  And each time it was a WOW moment for those individuals making their skin tone. I learn better through immersion of experience. My body trusts the information. I know this is true for many people. Art allows people be authors of epiphanies while making. And watching colors, mixing & making colors is science & art at its best.
This most recent piece was created in collaboration with Jamae Tasker , the director of the SF Sunset Coop . Who not only developed it with all her students. She brought the generations of teachers and elders to be part of this experience of learning.