At one point in the story, a white child learns that they can’t be friends with one of the Meany Meaningtons — who are, of course, Black — and so they go “hang out” with their “fellow whites” on the playground. A playground built by and “likely paid for” by white people, he clarified. And that’s when Peters began listing all the “fun” things in the world that are also white:
Let’s consider all of the fun items in the world that are white: Golf balls, paper, vanilla ice cream, baseballs, and best of all, whipped cream. What kid doesn’t like whipped cream? And then at this point in the book, you’ll probably have a little break. You’ll go shove a bunch of sugar down the throat of your kid right before bedtime. You’ll curse my name because he or she will not go to sleep for several hours. Staring up at the ceiling with a huge smile on his or her face. So proud to be white.
Finally. Finally, because there is some positive material to uplift your white child. There are white animals like sheep and seagulls and dogs and doves and polar bears. Every day we eat yummy white foods such as milk, coconut, bread flour, sugar, and everyone’s favorite, marshmallows. See, now we’re reading the book by the campfire. I want another s’more.
Nature contains white things like dandelions, salt, frost, foamy seawater, snow, ice, clouds. And let’s not forget about concrete, marble, feathers, sand, cotton, and lace, which are all white. Just like any other color, white is a color. The white that you see on your TV screen is a mix of red and green and blue light. The color white may appear to be absent of a particular color. Surprisingly, it’s a unique blend of all colors. Wow. Now that’s a fun fact to learn. Did you know that sunlight is really white?
Cool.
Peters concluded the book with some words of encouragement for children — but couldn’t quite finish the lines without injecting some blatant antisemitism out of nowhere:
Being proud because you’re a particular color doesn’t mean that you don’t like other colors. You must be comfortable in your skin and use the gifts that God put into you. Because it’s so much fun to open gifts.
[…]
Every day you will wake up with the skin that God gave you. It is who[m] you are, so why not enjoy it? Sometimes we wanna be like everyone else, but that’s not always good. You’re exactly who[m] you are meant to be.
Be proud of who[m] you are. Enjoy the color of your skin. Love yourself even more than you love ice cream and swimming and flying [insert slur here]. Excuse me. Typo.
You’re remarkable. More than you know. You are made with very special ingredients, and people of your skin tone should celebrate who[m] they are. Throw a party, jump up and down, because it’s really fun to be white.
“Now let me just ask you,” Peters said, “of all of the words that I just read who could disagree with that? Who could call that a hateful book or a racist book?”
Credit where it is due, it is not the most toxic children’s book that I have ever seen (that being Trau keinem Fuchs auf grüner Heid und keinem Jud auf seinem Eid), but lower-class whites would be unlikely to buy this book in droves for the simple reason that nobody is impressed or excited to learn that they have a melanin deficiency, and it is abnormal for somebody to get away with bullying another for being white—on the sporadic occasions when it does happen. Most lower-class whites have better things to blow their money on.
Not to mention that the writing sounds terrible: nameless, one-dimensional protagonists; one-dimensional, uncreatively named antagonists; no sense of adventure; no sense of mystery; no sense of humor; no soul. It’s just awful. How much research did this guy do before jotting down this snoozer? It is almost like he has not read a children’s book in decades, if ever.
That being said, petty bourgeois whites (besides Stew Peters hisself) might appreciate this book.
Really petty bourgeois.