When my son was younger, I had a love/hate relationship with the concept of playgroups. My son was a preemie so he was a little behind the curve in teething, talking, walking and those wonderful percentiles that some parents like to use as the badge of “my kid is better than all of the other kids”. (Seriously, my child was born breathing and doing everything he was supposed to do, I could really give two you-know-whats that little Johnny was in the 100th percentile and he was in the 25th.) I would leave some playgroups discouraged and disappointed and with the overwhelming urge to either choke someone out or gag as it seemed less about getting children together to have fun and interact with one another and more about moms flexing their maternity muscles and living vicariously through their daughters like little Kaitlin who was 9 months old and bilingual because she watches “Dora”! (“Bilingual” at 9 months?! Mom and Dad must be soooooo smart!)

I can only imagine how Sydney, Australia mom, Tara Coverdale, felt when she was kicked out of a playgroup for-get this-being white! Coverdale, was told repetitively by a worker from Alexandria Park Community Centre and centre facilitator, Jo Fletcher, “You can’t come here”. The centre was hosting a multicultural playgroup that welcomed children and parents who spoke a language other than English as the primary language in their homes.

Coverdale was informed of the playgroup from a Russian-born friend and was excited to attend. Her children were already playing with other children at the centre when she was stopped by the playdate police for having blond hair and freckles and, apparently, being too “Australian” for the playgroup and subsequently, asked to leave. Since the incident, Education Minister Rob Stokes and his department “counseled” Fletcher and instructed the centre to allow all families to attend the playgroup.

“I was disappointed to hear that a mum and her young child felt they were not welcome… This is not acceptable. Everyone, regardless of their background, should feel included in these wonderful community activities.”-Education Minister Rob Stokes

We’ll give him the “thumbs up” on the above comment but Tara Coverdale should not have been kicked out of the group in the first place.

Coverdale’s children running into the centre and playing with other children—no questions asked—illustrates what we’ve known all along. Children are innocent. Children do not discriminate. Children do not see race or color, children do not turn their noses up on other kids because of these things. The language of fun and play breaks all barriers. As a spouse of a retired Marine, we spent four years in Japan and as a result, our son had lots of Japanese friends. He clearly looked different and spoke another language but these children loved him anyway and he loved them back! Without us having to say anything, he accepted his friends for who they were. But some adults have to throw an agenda into all of it—all of the time. Adults have to call attention to the differences and make it all about them. And social justice liberals can’t leave well enough alone and let kids be kids. “Diversity” in the minds of the diversity police across the world includes all races except white people. That is what they mean when they say “inclusive”. This starts with playgroups and follows kids into schools, and then everyone at the “diversity” committee meetings sits around picking their noses and scratching their heads by the time these kids all hit 5th Grade. Why? Well, they’re wondering why the African-American kids only hang with the African-American kids, why the Hispanic kids gravitate to other Hispanic kids and why the white kids stay in their group when in reality it’s because nine times out of ten, the Caucasian children are called names and excluded from the other groups. Yeah, I said it and yes, it happens. They’re told they are “raaaaaccccist” (ask any elementary or junior high kid who is Caucasian and I guarantee they have been called this once or twice) and later in high school and college told to “check their privilege” and feel guilty about their roots. These kids did not all start out this way!

Children are being told that diversity matters but, in reality, to some diversity committees it only matters if one is of any other race but white. We’re to honor the oppression and struggles of other nationalities and races. We’re to honor the struggles of a child who may be of the LGBTQ persuasion and welcome them because we love and include everybody but somehow, it does not seem to matter with Caucasian kiddos because all they see is a white boy or girl and his very white mom and/or dad. These types assume that we, collectively, were responsible for the oppression and the discrimination of other races and nationalities. My child’s brownish-blond hair and blue eyes are the picture of “privilege” despite his ancestry. What they don’t see is a child who is American whose ancestors were poor Italian and Irish immigrants who came here with nothing but the clothes on their backs. What they don’t see is a child with ancestors who date back to the Slavic tribes who came here to flee oppression (we all know what Hitler was up to back in the day and it wasn’t all about the Jews).

But go ahead, diversity teams, rock stars of unity, and get your inclusive on. If things keep going the way they have been, our diversity will be a thing of the past and all of us white folks will be clumped in with the few horrible people in history that the diversity “experts” like to point out for shaming purposes only because it suits their warped narrative, gives them power, and drives the wedge between us all even deeper. And if we let them, they’ll do it—one playgroup and one kid at a time.