Sarita
Houston, TX
As a child in the south, I was picked on for several reasons: I have a dark complexion, I have decent hair, and I spoke English the way I was taught to. All of which cut very deeply. The worst came from family members, cousins, who would introduce me to their friends as ‘the black honky,” because of the way I spoke. We are all much older now; however, it caused a distance between us that has not been healed. I still don’t understand it. I am thankful that my Mother always encouraged us (I have a brother and a sister) to do our very best. That’s what we’ve done and we’ve able to prosper. She never allowed us to talk down to or even to look down upon others no matter what their differences were. I’m forever grateful for those lessons.
