"Colored"

I had an incident with Alisha Thursday night. I took her to work with me for the "family picnic" they were having for all of our students and their families. The school I teach at is about 90% or more African American students. So Alisha blended right in with her appearance. They had an inflatable obstacle course set up for the kids. Alisha thought it was really cool. She played on it for almost two hours. At one point, while she was waiting in line, some of the high school students were standing near her. Then she came running over to me where I was talking to one of our new staff members and just grabbed onto my legs in a tight hug. Then she looked up at me and said, "those kids said I'm colored". What??? I looked at her, not sure what her little 4 year old mind was thinking and asked her if she was colored. "Yes, mom, I'm purple." Then she took off with a huge smile and got back in line. I don't think she understood what they were saying or implying. Now she keeps telling people that some kids called her "colored". But she reassures me that she is pink and purple. I'm not sure if she will forget about it first, or if we'll have to figure out a way of explaining to her about skin color. I thought she had figured it out when Matthew came home talking about it after learning about skin tones in Kindergarten, but now it doesn't seem like she really understands. I hope she will always know and believe that her skin color does not change her value. She is important because God made her and He made her special.