The Boy Who Hated Being Black

Story by Reba McIntyre-Kindred

Illustration by Timothy Stafford

This is a tall fable about two young boys who grew up in the South.  They were identical twins, but even though they were identical, everyone could tell them apart.

“But how is that possible?”  You ask.

Well, I’m so happy that you asked that question, because the reason is very simple.  One boy had an olive tone skin color, as beautiful as the rising sun.  The other boy also had a beautiful skin tone, a smooth dark color, almost as black as mid-night, and his name was Sunny.

One day Sunny and his brother Bubba ran across this magic fish that was dying.  They threw the fish back into the water and saved his life.  The fish was so grateful that he gave each of them a wish, and Sunny’s wish was to have the magic fish change his color to another color.  The fish granted Sunny his wish.

Have you heard the saying, “Going from bad to worse?”

That is exactly what happened to Sunny.

Sunny lived for many years being sad and lonely because of his new color, until one day, he realized that he was totally the blame for his sad and lonely life.

His decision to accept what had happened to him brought about another change, but to his surprise, it was a change that made him very, very happy.