I’m surprised you speak so well.

E.C. Boyd,
Canton, OH.

I was not born, but I was raised in a predominantly white neighborhood because the school system was better in Perry Township than the low-income, mostly black Canton City Schools. As the only black person on my school’s debate team, I dealt with a lot of people surprised that I could speak as well as them, despite the obvious difference in our physical appearance, One debate alumni during a practice round said with the best of intentions, “You speak really well for a black girl.” When she saw the look on my face, she followed up with “Trust me–that’s a good thing.”