‘Colorblind’ Boy Shares His Place : Unity: Brian Harris, 12, of Stanton has become an outspoken critic of prejudice since his involvement in A Place for Us, an organization for interracial families.

Do you think children are born prejudice? No, they aren’t. It comes from the adults. Personally I think if an adult wants to be prejudice they should keep it to themselves. Children are colorblind unless taught otherwise. Maybe if adults stop teaching their children to be prejudice we can end it. What’s the point of hating someone because of the color of their skin?

--Brian Harris, 12, in a letter to TV talk show host Sally Jesse Raphael.

Brian Harris has a dream.

He knows it’s not very original. He’s read all about a guy named Martin Luther King Jr. in the history books.

But that hasn’t stopped the seventh-grader from getting involved in an organization called A Place for Us, a social and support group for interracial families, and launching his own mini-crusade against prejudice and racial intolerance.

“I know that people of different races can live together in peace because we do it in my house,” says Brian, whose father, Smitty, is black and, whose mother, Barbara, is white. “If people would just be colorblind and treat everyone else with respect, a lot of our problems would disappear.”

Whether he’s pitching a show on interracial families to a TV talk show host or speaking to a civic group, Brian’s message is consistent and clear: America’s cultural and racial diversity should be celebrated rather than condemned.

“It’s hard enough to have good relationships without creating all sorts of additional barriers,” he argues. “I have a (biracial) friend who won’t tell anyone about his family. He doesn’t want people to meet his parents. It’s like he’s embarrassed to be what he is. I think that’s sad, because it makes him even more susceptible to prejudice. It’s just not right.”

While Brian grew up aware that few children had parents of different races, he says he never gave it much thought until his family attended a picnic four years ago sponsored by A Place for Us, a group founded in 1984 by Gardena minister Steve White and his wife, Ruth.

“It was a lot of fun, because everybody was really nice and they were a lot of people like us,” he remembers. “Even though I’ve personally never had any trouble fitting in anywhere else, it was a place where I felt like I really belonged.”

The Harris family--Smitty, Barbara, Brian and his 10-year-old brother, Rodney--has become active in the organization. Barbara and Smitty volunteer as the group’s Southern California operations directors, sending out updates about holiday parties, picnics, camping trips and garage sale fund-raisers to more than 300 families.

Brian serves as the group’s unofficial spokesman and PR man, sending letters to newspapers, magazines, radio and TV shows, telling them all about A Place for Us and lobbying for media coverage.

He also takes his message directly to the public. On Oct. 30, he’ll speak to hundreds of high school students and faculty at a symposium on intercultural cooperation titled “Walk In My Shoes,” sponsored by the Orange County Human Relations Commission and held on the campus at UC Irvine.

“I like talking to people and letting them know what I think,” Brian says. “The only way you’re going to make a change is to keep talking about things and get people to think about what’s right.”

Brian’s efforts haven’t gone unnoticed. At its third annual Christmas potluck in December, A Place for Us will present “Brian’s Award” to another child who “makes a difference in school, home or community” by trying to “change prejudice, hatred or wrongs.”

Last year, Brian even received a letter of encouragement from First Lady Barbara Bush.

But what impresses his father, a surgical technician, even more than the recognition Brian has received is the growth he’s witnessed in his son over the past couple of years. “I’m proud of what he’s choosing to do,” Smitty Harris says.

“Not only is he making a difference in other people’s lives, but he’s making a difference in his own. He’s meeting all kinds of people and developing skills that will serve him well later in life. And he’s learning to take a stand for what he believes in.

“You lose a part of yourself every time you see injustice and choose to turn the other way,” Harris adds. “Brian has chosen to face it head-on, to remind people that there’s only one race--the human race. That’s quite an accomplishment for a kid his age.”

More specifically, Barbara Harris says, Brian has helped get the word out, letting people know that support is there if and when they need it.

“Our group is an important resource for interracial families, couples and kids who may be going through tough times,” she explains. “No matter what kind of problem you’re up against, chances are you’re going to be able to talk to someone here who’s been there. Whether you’re a kid who’s having trouble making friends because you may look different or a young woman who’s been disowned by her family because she’s married a man of a different race, there’s someone here who knows what it feels like and can help.”

That sense of community is what prompted Dee and Al Woodbury of Huntington Beach to attend their first A Place for Us event, a pizza party, last month.

“I saw an article about one of their picnics in a newspaper,” says Dee Woodbury, “and thought, ‘Why haven’t we ever heard about this group before?’ ”

“I liked that idea of being with people who wouldn’t be judging us just because we were married to each other. When people are like you, it’s less likely that prejudice will get in the way. You have something in common.”

She says that even though she and her husband, a computer programmer, have been married for 26 years, there are that times she still feels self-conscious in public.

“People stare, and you can almost read their minds,” she says. “Sometimes, it becomes a stare-down. Part of me gets angry, and part of me just thinks, ‘You should really get to know me better--I’m a nice girl.’ ”

She says that A Place for Us immediately became a place for them.

“Al and I both felt comfortable right off the bat,” she says. “They made us feel welcome. It was nice to be able to just relax and meet nice, new people. And nobody stared.”

While Brian and others in the organization attempt to generate as much media coverage as possible, word of mouth has proven to be the best advertising.

“We got involved four years ago when a friend invited us to a function,” says Smitty Harris. “We, in turn, invited two other couples, and they’ve invited their friends.”

Barbara says that while A Place for Us welcomes interracial couples of any ethnic background, the group is composed predominantly of couples in which one partner is white and the other is black.

“I’ve tried to pass out cards to other interracial couples at the mall,” she says. “But couples where one spouse is white and the other is, say, Mexican or Japanese, often don’t consider themselves interracial. A lot of times, they even get offended (by the invitation).”

As the organization grows, Smitty Harris says he’s optimistic it will groom young people such as Brian to assume leadership roles and directly impact the future.

“These kids are in a unique position to make a difference because see both sides,” he says. “They don’t operate with misconceptions about what it is to be white or black, because they’re both. Because of that, they can make a real contribution toward making this country what it should be. America was intended to be a true melting pot. Unfortunately, we’ve never fully realized the principles this country was founded upon.”

Harris sees social change as a process and says the positive impact that A Place for Us has on kids such as Brian is another step on a long journey.

“The groundwork is being laid, but it’ll take many generations,” he says. “As long as there are splinter groups like the neo-Nazis or white supremacists preaching hatred and separatism, there’s going to be more work to be done.”

But Smitty Harris is hopeful.

“My kids will help make it better,” he says. “And their kids will make it better still. It all takes time.”

For more information on A Place for Us, call (714) 236-0750.