And I may well be....Indian children used in school play

[TheFeministParent]

So my ds (9) had a school rememberance assembly, the focus was non British troops, particularly Indian. DS's school is predominantly white (probably 98%) and only one class per year group. In his class there is one little girl with Indian parents, one mixed race boy with a Pakistani father and one Egyptian boy. So when they discussed India two boys from another year were used to represent India...nothing was announced why they were picked for a different year group's assembly and no reference was made about their own heritage (although I assume they are of Indian descent). Am I unreasonable to think that the teacher should have prefaced the assembly by announcing that the children had been asked if they wanted to represent India in another year's assembly? Or am I being a bit over sensitive and ridiculous? My, and other parents, initial response was a bit .

A coloured child?
Are the rest invisible?

I didn't imply you were being racist. I'm making the point I made above, the assumption that you are something other than British simply because your ancestors came from another country. If they were born here, they are British, India is not "their country".

Speed read Perpetually's post. VV at 'coloured.'

The German soldiers were played by English children, as were the British.

I would never either say or assume such a thing greta, just for the record.

x-post.

Joni honestly, I am not having a go at you.

I'm venting years having the following types of conversations:"Where are you from?" "Yorkshire." "No, I mean where are you really from?"

OOOPs! no offense meant folks, i am just showing my age

coloured always sounds/sounded less rude than saying black or whatever, I was just trying to share another story of overt stereotyping using non-white children

apologies again, I am clearly not well up on whats PC thesedays

You're from YORKSHIRE! We can never be friends greta. I'm from the better side of the Pennines

Although, I would have been annoyed if my DC were made to play German soldiers.

Especially since we have not talked about the war yet and their ancestors' role in it.

Rest assured, Joni, that if my DS was ever trooped out in school to represent Henry Tudor and his ilk, I'd drag him off stage myself

person of colour is awful isn't it?
Luckily I have never heard anyone utter such a stupid phrase

YANBU

I would have something to say if one of my kids was used in this way without some discussion.

Its not like they were even being accurate was it?

In all white schools I assume they would have dressed a child in the appropriate costume. No need for blacking up.

PMSL at showing what Indians look like.

Dandy, I agree with what you say in your post. But there's a big difference between a child choosing to celebrate his/her heritage as he sees it and the OP's scenario. In the latter, the children weren't there to recall/celebrate the histories of their own ancestors, but rather, as someone above aptly put it, were there as a prop to represent India.

PMSL at greta's kids dressed as 'Henry Tudor'

Isn't the point here that the school were trying to do something lovely that was at worst a bit cackhanded. Some people wouldn't be at all offended, some would raise an and for others they'd be deeply offended. That's why race can be a minefield (sorry to use a cliche). Let's hope the kids involved are not affected by it or if they are, they can at least see the teachers had the best intentions at heart.

My kids doing the annual christmas school play which seems to have been written circa 1980 (or poss even1930) called 'Christmas Around the World'. Children (98% white) dress up as 'indians' who say 'the curry and rice is rather nice'; 'chinese people' who hold their hands together and do a funny dance; 'americans' who are cowboys; hawaians wearing grass skirts; 'spanish' people who shout 'olay'; as well as 'welsh people' in full folk costume. Apparently people in all these countries are celebrating christmas and the birth of baby Jesus.

Feel very very uncomfortable about this... but worried that I am over-reacting . My son (6) now holds his hands together to imitate being 'a chinese'... (I've tried to explain why this is not okay). We also have first cousins who's heritage is part-chinese and apart from the wider issues - its not going to go down at all well if he does it with them!. I know the school sees this as harmless/ learning about other cultures - but to me it feels like mindless stereotyping.

(We also got a homework this week asking children to bring in pictures of themselves at a christian ceremony.)