Cultural Affinity Groups

affinity [uh-fin-i-tee]
–noun
1. a natural liking for or attraction to a person, thing, idea, etc.
2. a person, thing, idea, etc., for which such a natural liking or attraction is felt.

As I mentioned before, I taught Sunshine's class about African-American History Month this week. We've never talked to Sunshine about our ethnicities, so this was the first time that she had learned that term. I wasn't quite sure how to brooch the conversation, but started with showing her a photo of my dad.
I said, "You know, Papa is African-American."
Sunshine: "Oh great! That's so fun! Is Gramma, too?"
Me: "No, just Papa."
Sunshine: "Oh, that's too bad."
Me: "Ya, well Gramma is other things, like German-American."
Sunshine: "Oh, that's good!"
Me: "Ya, so these other people are African-American, too." And I showed her some of the photos I had prepared for the slideshow, hoping that she might get it on her own. She didnt. "So, because Papa is my dad, I get to be African-American. And because you belong to me, you get to be African-American, too!"
Sunshine: "Wow, that's great! But still, not Gramma?"
Me: "No, still not Gramma. But she still gets to be other things."
Sunshine: "Oh, okay." Poor Gramma has cancer AND she doesnt get to be African-American. Life is HARD.

So she came home from school the next afternoon and told The Little Master that I had gone to her class to talk about being African-American.
She said, "I'm African-American, Buddy. And so is Papa. Mother, does Buddy get to be African-American, too?"
Me: "Yes, he belongs to me too, so he's African-American."
Sunshine: "Oh, goody! You're African-American too, Buddy!!"
The Little Master: "No. Me no African-American. Me California-American. My grandfather told me."

And so it is, I suppose. You can take the boy from the beach, but you can't take the beach from the boy.