Social Acceptance of A Black Girl

I Remember

I remember being asked why I was so brown.

My friend is mixed; her mother is white and her father, black.
I was going with them to visit her brother who is not related to her dad.
Her brother is older and had 3 children then the oldest around 8 and the youngest around 2. I myself was probably nearing 12 or 13.

At their home all the kids would usually go downstairs to play so that's what we did also.
Everything is fun and we're being kids.
As the fun continues the eldest boy around 8 plays a little more rough and does as boys usually do and starts to wrestle us to the ground.

-Sorry if this becomes unclear but I am trying to recall as best as I can.-

As he tackles my friend and I, I hear him question..."why are you so brown?"

Mind you I was the only little black girl there...beside my friend who is mixed but not nearly as pigmented as myself.

I have never heard a comment like that before but I knew that it wasn't right. But it didn't end there...
The young boy spoke again a few words which till this day I can't make out...and followed them with a remark I can't forget.

"Maybe you won't have to be so brown all the time.."