Folks Like Us

Today I was reading a book with a group of kids. The 1933 African-American children were talking to each other about how they didn't like to go to the general store because the owners "don't treat our folks right". I tried to clarify this phrase by explaining "folks" in this context meant "black people like us". No one in the group caught my racially-confused mistake until one kid gave me a strange look. Then I realized what I had just said. Oops.