Not My Problem

<p>My shoulders stoop from carrying the weight of the world. Sounds melodramatic, right? But that&rsquo;s who I&rsquo;ve always been, even as a child.</p> <p>My childhood was spent in an area of overt racism. My family was racist; I was not*, but I carried the weight of the prejudices that surrounded me.</p> <p>I attended a school where girls and people of color enjoyed fewer rights and freedoms than white boys.</p> <p>Because I was an excellent student, I got away with speeches in front of the school supporting civil rights, Bobby Kennedy, and women&rsquo;s equality. I was the first female in my school to wear pants &mdash; an action that changed the school&#39;s unofficial, unwritten dress code. I stood up to students who belonged to the KKK and bullied the African-American students, once resulting in a gut punch that doubled me over and sent the boy, more than twice my size and a member of the KKK, home for two weeks. He should have been expelled.</p> <p><a href="https://medium.com/in-my-life/not-my-problem-98df2660e7da"><strong>Website</strong></a></p>