The fact that a first impression lasts forever, is loud and clear in the poem "Incident," by Cullen as the speakers only memory of his visit to Baltimore is the in your face racial prejudice he experienced on that visit as an eight year old little boy many years ago. This power is clearly witnessed in lines 5-12 in the poem Incident by Cullen: "Now I was eight and very small, And he was no whit bigger, And so I smiled, but he poked out His tongue, and called me, "Nigger.  I saw the whole of Baltimore From May until December; Of all the things that happened there That's all that I remember" (627). The sadness that is felt after reading this poem leads one to question why young children begin to treat each other in such ways? Society must look at how and when we begin to teach young children about race and individual differences. For many, this topic that is left untouched because of the sensitive nature, but as seen from this poem written years ago, it was a problem then and as anyone can witness today by listening to the news, continues to be a problem today in the communities and society as a whole. Ideally, parents and families would have an open, objective conversation with their children from the time they began to talk about race and individual differences. Sadly these conversations are not happening in most homes, so this opens the opportunity for the early childhood classrooms that more and more children are attending. However, the teachers in these early childhood classrooms struggle with having these conversations for multiple reasons; including, the sensitive nature of the topic, their own personal views on racism, and the belief "that discussions about racism are too advanced and complex for young, innocent children to understand  (Boutte 335). The truth is racism in some form, or another is all around us. As Boutte pointed out, racism is learned from a variety of sources, individuals are exposed each time a book is read, television is watched, or interaction in a social situation occurs. In being aware that this exposure is taking place, it is crucial that educators allow and encourage young children and provide them appropriate opportunities to question and attempt to understand differences, including those involving race (Derman-Sparks 8). It is in these early childhood classrooms where children ages three to five begin to see differences in people and place them into groups.