I’m sure by now everyone has seen this article that’s gone viral. A little girl, Sophia, finally was potty trained and her parents took her to Target so she could pick out a prize. She chose a doll that is a Black doctor. When checking out, the cashier asked why she wanted a doll that doesn’t look like her and the store has a ton of other dolls that do. She responded that yes the doll does. “She’s a doctor like I’m a doctor. And I’m a pretty girl and she’s a pretty girl.” The little girl’s mom said she was proud.

I am far out of the doll market, however, I was too excited that this doll was colored and a doctor. When I was growing up, my mom had to search high and low for colored dolls, and it’s revolutionary that one is a doctor. When my mom would find one, we would keep them because finding colored dolls was like finding a piece of gold in the middle of the California Gold Rush. My sister and I didn't donate our dolls like many chose to do, we understood how sacred they were. So every colored doll I owned, was passed down to a family member, like a wedding gown.

Isn’t it sad that finding a colored doll is a novelty in a land of “equality”?

Isn't it sad that the cashier failed to realize that you're allowed to choose something that looks different than you?

Why can’t Sophia choose a doll different than her?

The cashier fails to realize that many colored women, like myself, would have loved to grow up surrounded by dolls that could do anything—whether, the dolls were colored or not. Most of my noncolored dolls drove fantasy cars or had a house, and most of the clothing didn't involve professions. The cashier's question presents a problem with choosing something different than you. Sophia loved this doll for its intelligence and beauty, not its skin color.

I am happy that this interaction was noted because questions like the cashier's needs to stop being asked.

Just because people are a different race and might have difference experiences than you, doesn’t mean they don’t deserve to be known and that you don’t have something in common with them.

The cashier and many others need to understand thatSophia gets the opportunity to choose and she chose something that didn't look like her, but also has the dreams she wants to achieve.As a little girl, I didn't have that choice but I'm grateful that girls like Sophia do now.