My son and his nerf gun

I hate guns. I hate guns so much that up until the age of 4, my son called a gun a “pewer” (like pew, pew pew). I didn’t want to talk about guns and didn’t allow them in the house. But when he started using sticks and rocks and anything he could find to shoot things, I gave in a little. I allowed him to have a nerf gun.

Today, I looked out the window and my son was pretending to shoot his cousin with his nerf gun. I was struck that because he is white I don’t have to worry about this situation. I went outside and told him the realities that many of the kids in our neighborhood have to be careful when they are playing with a fake gun. I told him that people might get nervous and call the police.

I asked my 7 year old what could happen if the police were called on a black person and he looked at me, with fear in his eyes and said, “they could die.”

I am glad he came to that conclusion. I think it is little things like that that will start to change America. When we all start seeing our white privilege and calling it out, even if it is hard, things can start to change.