Sharpen that fuchsia!
by Telemachus Gaffiganiakis
Sept. 30, 2006
PHILADELPHIA-- Miss Kimberly Leeves's first-grade classroom in suburban Philadelphia has been rocked by controversy after Miss Leeves confiscated a Crayola Indian Red crayon from six-year old Billy Whitehead.
Young Billy was rather fond of his Indian Red crayon, admitting that it was his favorite color by far, but Miss Leeves claimed that Billy's frequent talking about the crayon and disregard for class rules led to the confiscation of his precious artistic utensil.
In 1999, Crayola decided to change the name of its Indian Red crayon to "Chestnut" after studies showed that many children believed that the "Indian" in Indian Red reflected the skin color of Native Americans. Detractors did not like the move citing that the "Indian" in the name came from the fact that the color originated in India, and that rather than have children be confused by racial connotations, teachers should educate their students on the history of the names of colors if problems arise.
Nevertheless, if in 1999, Crayola made this drastic change, how then did Billy Whitehead manage to have an Indian Red crayon in his crayon box? Look no further than Danny Whitehead, Billy's 21-year old brother. With Billy going through the educational system, Danny passed down much of his school supplies from when he was a youth to Billy, including his box of 64 Crayola crayons (only 63 are actually in the box, Danny admitted that he threw his carnation pink crayon at a pesky girl with cooties who was taunting his papier mache bust of O.J. Simpson [pre-murder allegations] during art class).
Sharpen that fuchsia!
"I'm under the presumption that our parents spent a lot of time not having sex, and then went through a mid-life crisis," said Danny. "This explains the fifteen-year age gap, and essentially, with this Indian Red fiasco, the problems in passing down your own school supplies to a younger sibling."
"I just like my Indian Red crayon. It's my favorite. Why can't I color with it?" asked Billy.
In particular, two altercations between Miss Leeves and Billy led to the confiscation of the crayon. The first was when the class was coloring a map of the United States. Miss Leeves told Billy that he should color the country with a wide variety of colors, but in particular, she suggested to use red, white, and blue. Billy refused to do so, coloring the entire country into Canada with Indian Red. When asked why he was doing this, Billy said, "it just seems right. The country should be colored Indian Red."
However, it was not until Billy began to color his own body with Indian Red that Miss Leeves took away the crayon. When the teacher asked Billy why he was coloring on himself, Billy responded, "I don't like my color. Can't I be Indian Red?" The question may join such lines as "Four Score and Seven Years Ago" (Abraham Lincoln), "I have a dream" (Martin Luther King), and "Whatchu talkin' about, Willis?" (Gary Coleman) as pivotal quotes in the cultural history of America.
"I don't want to deny Billy his crayon," Miss Leeves said. "I just feel that he needs to get a more updated box of crayons where that crayon is referred to as Chestnut then he can shout the praises of Chestnut all he wants."
"I just want my boy to get his crayon back," Billy's mother Sally Whitehead said. "He keeps crying about it. Why buy a new box of crayons? Will Miss Leeves give me the five dollars to do that? Even so, my boy loves Indian Red. To see a crayon with the name Chestnut on it, well, it won't be the same. He's just a boy who's got Indian Red running through his veins."
On Tuesday, the school's Board of Education will hear the case of Billy Whitehead and his Indian Red crayon. Board member Dayna Hutchinson briefly discussed the case. "I'm looking forward to the details of it all," she said. "Both sides seem to have legitimate arguments. I'm not sure what I or the other four will decide upon, but I'm very sympathetic to the plight of this crayon. I watched Dances with Wolves."