My daughter was told she's too dark-skinned to be Cinderella on Halloween

I know it's obviously nowhere near October right now, but months ago my daughter had her first "race" experience with her white classmate. I guess I suddenly feel compelled to let it out my heart tonight.My daughter absolutely obsesses over anything Disney, and her favourite princess of all is Cinderella of course (tbh I'm more of a Little Mermaid fan). I remember I bought her the perfect dress that was an exact look-a-like minus the glass slippers. The smile on her face is a memory that warms me still to this cold day.After coming home from school on Halloween day, she told me a white girl in her class had bothered her about how she couldn't be Cinderella because she was too dark-skinned. I remember when she told me I was upset, naturally. The next day or so, I drove to my daughter's school and marched right into the principal's office to have a discussion about the whole situation. So after we did, I went back home to give my little girl a gentle lesson about what racism is in society.Yes, obviously I know her white classmate isn't a racist. Children are born racist. But, they can be taught. And, I'm not saying what she said was racist neither, but I do believe that by saying my child was too dark-skinned to play a fictional character does psychologically stem from prejudice influence from probably her parents.It became a bigger thing than expected, and the classmate's parents did get involved. The end-result was that we got a hand-written letter from the girl to my daughter.How do you handle race with your children?At the end, maybe I overracted on my part. via /r/Parenting http://ift.tt/2pHd7fA