In answer to the Day 2 Question “How ____ Are You?”
9 yrs old
I was nine years old when a young black man was shot and killed in the front yard of our family home. We lived in a west side suburb of Chicago that was becoming more and more violent, so my parents decided to sell the house and move to a northern (much safer) suburb. This suburb was also much whiter and that’s when I learned I was black. My parents sat me down and told me that there were people in the world that wouldn’t like me b/c of my skin color. They also gave me a list of epithets and instructed me that if I were called any of those words, to tell my teach immediately. Good times. Great question, btw!