Pat,
Charlotte, NC.

As a young white girl of 9, my family moved to a NYC housing project. I was greeted with “white cracker”. A term I had never heard previously, and didn’t know why I was disliked. I was not raised to focus on skin color – my mother told me we all had the same color blood. As a young woman, I experienced gender discrimination in a predominantly male workforce. As an older, divorced, childless, retiree I experience ageism. The latter is widespread, deep in our culture, and difficult to ignore – the stereotypes are painful – I am an invisible individual to many. I was not prepared for this last battle and have empathy for others who are objects of discrimination because they dare to exist.