"I have a dream that one day my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." -MLKJ
Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!
(Or, as I was taught in my Virginia elementary school: Lee-Jackson-King Day: the day of civil rights and states' rights activists; many important people were born in January.)
Here's a neat biography of Martin Luther King, Jr., designed for children.
And I think I'll play this video for Baby A:
She won't quite grasp it yet. How could she? The sad part of talking to your kids about tolerance and peace and freedom is introducing to them the reality that not everyone is tolerant, nor peace-building, nor free. But we can and must teach our children to walk hand in hand, to sing together, and to reach out to the oppressed.
There's an interesting perspective on talking to kids about race and a fascinating conversation-starting picture book suggestion here.