Thank you so much for your kind words.

That's a shame about you and the young man from South America. I was born in 1971, so not much later than 1968 and the times were not kind. My mother and father were the subject of scorn and gossip all over their tiny little Bible thumping town.

She died when I was 3 weeks old and 51 years later, people that were alive at the time still refer to me as "the baby." is hushed tones.

As for the Black teenager. I get it. I was raised by a Black couple (adopted by my paternal uncle and his wife) and I didn't even have any connection to my racial heritage. There was no such thing as Black history back then. All I knew is they grew up Black and poor and faced racism pretty much all the time.

I enjoy sharing my struggles. In a strange way, it's helped me. A sort of therapy, I guess. That and the only way we're ever going to get past the abhorrent and insanely stupid thing racisim is is to speak up and shine a huge light on it. And finally, I really like the idea of letting young mixed race people know that they aren't alone. There are people like them, people that look like them, feel the things they feel. That's something I never had.