Racism is something society struggles with everyday and from the highest level down to the school yard, differences and labels are used to divide people and it seems rarely for the good. This video of four year-old Londyn James crying seems to sum up the emotional scar of being isolated because of your skin colour.
The video was posted by her mother Tomeka Fisher onto YouTube after her daughter came home distraught because another girl wouldn't play with her, because she's black. The 4 year-old can be heard explaining why she was so upset: "Because they made me sad. ... [The kid] didn't want to be my friend because she doesn't like black people."
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"She told me that a girl told her she didn't want to be friends with her because she was black," the 35 year-old of St. Louis, Missouri later told People magazine after the video amassed millions of views. "I didn't know who would believe me so I decided to videotape it."
"It was remarkable," she went on about the reaction online. "I just wanted people to know that no child should be told someone doesn't want to be their friend because of their race or how they look." The story did have a kind of happy ending. Local news anchor Jeff Cunningham saw the viral video and told his own daughter Holland about it.
She drew Londyn a picture asking her to be her friend, which was then sent to the four year-old. "As a dad, it just broke my heart to see a child cry," he said of the story, "I also thought it could be a good learning tool for my 5-year-old daughter."
The parents are now said to be arranging a playdate for the girls, so at least Londyn did make a new friend out of it, though it's going to be hard for her or her mum to forget the prejudice she suffered at the hands of her school friends.
The distrubing clip is also a stark reminder that racism is still incredibly damaging and prevelant in 2015.
