Living in an all-white town, going to an all-white church, having only all-white friends gave me the impression that this is what the world was like. I never heard of any other race other than white or any other religion other than Christian until one year in elementary an African American girl came into my class. I was in awe of her stunning dark skin and dark hair, yet petrified to ask her anything regarding her differences. When I arrived home later that day from school I told my mother about her and asked why I had never seen anyone like that or why I never knew that there was people like that in the world. My mother looked as if I had shown her a monster that had been hiding in my closet and then she yelled and sent me to my room. As the years went on I began to learn more of what was in the world and how racist my family really was. Saddened in the way my family felt I promised myself I wouldn’t follow in their footsteps and that I would be the change for the
Living in an all-white town, going to an all-white church, having only all-white friends gave me the impression that this is what the world was like. I never heard of any other race other than white or any other religion other than Christian until one year in elementary an African American girl came into my class. I was in awe of her stunning dark skin and dark hair, yet petrified to ask her anything regarding her differences. When I arrived home later that day from school I told my mother about her and asked why I had never seen anyone like that or why I never knew that there was people like that in the world. My mother looked as if I had shown her a monster that had been hiding in my closet and then she yelled and sent me to my room. As the years went on I began to learn more of what was in the world and how racist my family really was. Saddened in the way my family felt I promised myself I wouldn’t follow in their footsteps and that I would be the change for the