We would have been a cute couple
but when I met his racist friend, I exited gracefully. And I’m good with that.
I don’t need that stress in my life. I also didn’t want to have a conversation
that went, “Hey, I think you’re great and I like you but your racist friend makes
me very uncomfortable…” Passing on a guy who seemed cool at the moment was
something I wrestled with, but life is too short to wrestle with that kind of
uncertainty. Plus, I couldn’t ignore the confirmed evidence, reservations, and
warnings from people who gave me a heads up. “I don’t know if you want to date
someone white. Because even if he’s not racist, you know some of his family and
friends might be.” I didn’t completely agree with that statement at first, but
I started to wonder. Sometimes you have to cut your losses and move on. It’s
odd and scary, but truthfully not at all surprising, that race is still an issue
for some people. And while I’m still open to dating across all kinds of racial
lines, I don’t want or need to complicate my life. The silver lining in all
this was catching and cutting things early before anything got too serious. And
just another sign that God has something else better in mind, so all is not
lost. I’ll be just fine.
I’m a Black educator in my fifth year of teaching middle school English, and in my third as the 8th Grade English PLC (Professional Learning Community) Lead. And while I genuinely enjoy the purposeful work I get to do, seeing the growth of my scholars, and continuing to hone my skills in a content area I’ve loved since I was a little girl, I’ve had to confront some unpleasant experiences in this space. I’d been through much worse when I was an academic advisor at a Christian university. Racism, sexism, harassment, and workplace bullying were sadly norms in that environment. However, some of what I’ve experienced as a Black educator hasn’t been normal … It doesn’t seem normal to be the only Black educator in my department – in a predominantly Black school. One of my Black colleagues once said, “It should look like a Tyler Perry movie in here.” But it doesn’t. It didn’t feel normal being reprimanded in a meeting (during my second year of teaching) by an administrator who went in on...