Let me Erase your Skin Colour

It was a regular school day. Pencils scratching, chairs creaking, little hands busy doodling while pretending to listen.

And then, it happened...

An eight-year-old Indian girl - dark brown skin, black eyes, yellow t-shirt sat quietly at her desk. Next to her, another child, a friend even, held up an eraser. She pressed it against the first girl’s arm and said:“I don’t like the colour of your skin. You are black.”

The Indian girl lowered her gaze. She didn’t fight back. She didn’t complain. She simply absorbed the words like a sponge and felt shame.

Now, some adults may shrug this off. “Oh, kids say things. Don’t make a fuss.”But let me ask you: when a child tries to erase another child’s skin colour, is it still innocent play? Or is it the earliest, rawest form of racism - or at the very least, colourism.

The Small Voices That Echo Big Biases

Research tells us that children notice skin colour differences as early as age 3. By 5 to 8, they’re already forming opinions - who is “better,” who is “beautiful,” who is not.

This isn’t because kids are born with prejudice encoded in their DNA. No. Babies don’t pop out of the womb with a bias against melanin. They learn. From what’s said at home. From who gets praised as “fair and lovely.” From who’s missing in storybooks and TV shows.

So when an eight-year-old says, “I don’t like your skin,” she’s not inventing this from thin air. She’s parroting what society has whispered into her tiny ears.

The Adult Shrug (And Why It’s Dangerous)

Here’s where we often go wrong:We brush it off.We tell the child, “Ignore it.”We laugh awkwardly, or worse, stay silent.

But silence doesn’t make bias disappear. It makes it grow legs and run wild. Children learn not just from what we say, but also from what we refuse to say.

If you don’t name it, if you don’t correct it, if you don’t shine a light on it - the darkness wins. And in that silence, a little girl might begin to wonder if maybe, just maybe, she really does need to be erased.

How Do We Do Better?

Talking about skin colour isn’t taboo. It’s necessary. And we need to stop whispering the word “black” like it’s an insult that might stain the walls.

Here’s what we can start doing:

• Talk openly. Name skin tones the way you’d name eye colours. Not with shame, but with matter-of-fact celebration.

• Correct hurtful behaviour immediately. With kindness, but also with clarity: “That is not okay. Words like that hurt.”

• Validate the child who was hurt. Remind them they are enough, just as they are. That their skin doesn’t need fixing.

• Model respect. Children watch more than they listen. If adults carry bias, they will too. Show them every shade is worthy of celebration.

It is our jobs as parents, educators and society to address issues like this one.