Lashonda McNair,
Birmingham, AL
My 9 yrs old little black son came home from his predominately black school and said to his 73 yr old grandma “Grandma you’re my nigga, you know, my friend.” This opened the discussion of race and black history between our family across our 3 generations. It was a refreshingly, scary and much-needed discussion to help him understand while that may be how his friends and possibly their family may choose to greet each other, this is not how we as a family choose to greet one another due to the negativity that surrounds that word in our history. We explained to him not to hate those who use those words but to let that word have an impact or place in his life and daily interactions.
