Strong Island

 Growing up on Long Island was awful. All I can say is Strong Island is fun to say. In elementary school I was followed by a girl that lived on the street behind mine. It was my very first time walking home from school. She relentlessly called me a nigger until we got to the street she lived on. I wasn’t doing anything to her. The hate obviously came from her parents but damn.

I once was followed in a museum. I was accused of shoplifting my own clothes on the public street. In high school my boyfriend’s mother completely ignored me. It was really uncomfortable. It was clearly wrong and my boyfriend at the time never said a thing. I was just a freshman in high school.

I overheard someone saying that they wanted to hook up with a black girl. A girl (who denied it even happened) came over my house and kept ducking behind a car saying “drive by.”

Racism exists whether you accept it or not. I feel it now more then ever. I don’t like to celebrate patriotic holidays because I don’t see it. Sorry not sorry.