Parents won't give in to school's ultimatum.

Marcy and Adrian Carr were shocked to receive a letter from their daughter Ada's kindergarten recently telling them that they must select a racial category to describe their daughter's racial background.

Along with the letter, from Rosebank school, which Ada's mother, Marcy Carr, who is white, described as 'threatening,' was a Student Ethnic Identification form with five boxes among which to choose: American Indian or Alaskan Native; Asian or PacificIslander; Hispanic; Black, Not of Hispanic Origin; and White, Not of Hispanic Origin.

There was no category to describe Ada's background, which is mixed-race.

Marcy and Adrian must now decide whether five year-old Ada is black or white.

'The thing that irks me is that people still think (race) matters. They're asking her to deny half her heritage,' said her father, Adrian Carr, who is black. 'Until she went to school, I was brown and her mother was pink.'

The letter also states that if the couple don't choose, they will not get complete reports on Ada's performance in kindergarten, and Ada will be assigned a racial category by Principal Mark Gray.

When Ada was asked to describe herself either in terms of a race or colour, the vibrant 5-year-old uttered one word: 'Beautiful.'

To her mother, who said she would not comply with the school's request to categorise her daughter, it proved a point.

'There's people telling us that that's not a good enough answer,' said Mrs. Carr. 'What kind of world do we live in where a 5-year-old needs to deny her own heritage in order for her school to get funded?'

Principal Mark Gray has so far refused to comment.

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Source:www.silive.com