Frances Pennington.
NYC, NY
I grew up in a non racially diverse remote part of Wales in UK, so when younger had no experience with diversity or racial tension. It was not until I arrived in NYC that I came in contact with Jews, Asians and African Americans. I worked in the music industry and had many black friends and coworkers. One sad and eye opening experience came when one of my very close Jewish girlfriends started to distance herself from me. I could not understand why and discovered it was because I was dating a black man. I was horrified to learn she was fine working with black people, but could not accept people of color into her peer group. Our friendship ended there.
