I grew up in Mississippi, and most of my life, I heard people talk about prejudice and racism. My family is African American and they would talk about things that happended to them. However, I did not directly experience racism or prejudice until I was 15 years old. On this day, a white woman called me the N word. She stated that "she was tired of you people" and asked me to leave her store. I was shopping for a dress and did not have enough money. When I asked the lady if I could put the dress up and come back later, she asked me to leave the store in a nasty manner. On this day, I felt degraded and less than a person.
If I could go back to that day, I would have thanked the woman for her time and explained that I would return for the dress. I would have overcome the mistreatment with courtesy and kindness. I would also have held my head up and walked out instead of crying. This incident has stuck with me all my life, and it was one of the first moments when I realized that prejudice people were still in the world.
Thank you for sharing that story. This experience sounds painful. At 15 we are all so venerable. Don't you wish you could go back to that day with the maturity you have now. I guess that is why we teach. To help the children of today to act with kindness and expect justice and equity.
ReplyDeleteBetsy
Hi Geneen,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your experience. I could not imagine going through an experience like this, especially at that age. I agree with Betsy in that through the work we do we can help children act with kindness.