Last night I asked Avery if she knew that we had a new president*. She said "oh, who?"
I said "Barack Obama" and she said "oh yeah, the guy with the purple lips". I was a bit confused by this because I hadn't noticed, but being as observant as always, she is right, his lips are kinda purplish.
She's not the only one who noticed because when I did a search for "Obama purple lips" to see if I could find a picture that supported her claim there were thousands of queries into this issue. Some were wondering if this is a health issue - a smoking thing, poor circulation etc.
I hope it's a bipartisan thing. (Red + Blue...)
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*We didn't discuss the whole monumental, historic race issue thing because frankly, I don't want her to think that there is anything abnormal about having a president that happens to have different skin (and lip) color than she does. I don't want her to think that in 2009 we were supposedly still dealing with racial injustices - I say supposedly because I've never felt it to be an issue personally (at least not where I grew up). Hopefully now the media will feel the same.
Except that - and somebody stop me now - was anyone else horrified by Rev. Lawery's closing prayer/speech? The first 10 minutes were beautiful and had he only stopped before "Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around -- (laughter) -- when yellow will be mellow -- (laughter) -- when the red man can get ahead, man -- (laughter) -- and when white will embrace what is right (uh, what?) I thought this was a rather offensive end to a prayer. I heard it on the radio first and when I watched it later and realized how old he was I cut him a little slack considering what things he has probably lived through. Or maybe this is some poem I'm not familiar with and I missed out on the inside joke therin. But during a prayer? There are other ways to make that last statement ryhme where we could then all been left laughing.
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I'm not sure what to make of Rev. Lawery's comments. We watched the swearing in ceremony at work and people were starting to trickle out the conference room as he was finishing up the prayer so I wasn't full paying attention. I just remember hearing "brown can stick around" and I asked my co-worker, "did he just say what I think he said?!" He sure did...
It was interesting to watch Obama's face during that too...he kind of laughed at the first part of the "color" rhyme, then looked somewhat confused by the "white" part.
Classic Avery! And clever explanation by Mom ;-)
By the way, I agree with not mentioning the race thing to Avery...I think part of what excites me so much about this presidency is that for their generation it won't be strange to not have a middle aged white man in the office. They will truly be able to believe that anyone can run for President as long as they are willing to work for it.
And clever title too :)
Avery is so cute. I can't believe how old she has gotten. I totally agree with you on the prayer---my reaction was "huh?" After the prayer was over Jacob said, "that guy must not go to our church. He sure prays weird." Ahh, from the mouths of babes. :)
Avery is so observant :) I missed the inaguration and still haven't seen it... Now I have to go search You Tube and see it for myself!
Nice. I love the color lesson. We actually did the exact opposite and made a huge deal about the whole black man as president. . .now I feel sheepish. We fast forwarded through the "prayer", but now I wish that we could have been witness to that scene.
that's so funny! i always thought his lips looked purplish too:) bright kid you have there.
I never noticed the lips before, now I'm totally going to.
Totally agree on the race issue with kids.
that was the first thing I noticed when I saw Obama, too. The purple lips. Good call Avery. The poem the woman read was along the same lines as that prayer. Too bad that a day that was supposed to be historic for showing that we moved past racism in a big way- was so racist.
I too was a bit taken aback by the speech..not sure if I should laugh or be horrified.
And purple lips - he definitely does have them. How observant of her!
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