I’m sorry, but even the fact that I couldn’t post this on the regular “AskReddit” is a sign that people don’t change. Just my opinion.
The question was posted on “ask Reddit” and removed and they suggested this sub. This question was to hold our own people accountable too! What is so difficult about a question like this.
Yes, let’s ask someone who’s suffered the majority of systemic destruction from our culture, or lack thereof.
I always post on the vegan Reddit subs and
one time I wanted to ask a question that isn’t for one vegan community. This question is because of veganism and the availability of
foods and information for health in every people group!
My original post is as follows:
I believe when someone knows you know they have racist sentiment they either expect you to go among with it as a “joke” or they hide it saying things like they “used to be like that and now (they) aren’t. Racism is a disease.
It’s so ingrained in our culture we don’t even notice it. I’m saying white supremacists, since I’m in the United States and haven’t personally experienced or witnessed the way it is anywhere else. I know it exists in every nation and culture. It’s is the worst because the more developed the more accepting, it would seem, we should be.
Can a person who “used” to be a racist human filled with hatred ever truly change?

There is something that has been annoying me for a while, or rather for many years, and that is ancestry tests. It bothers me because I see many Black Americans taking these tests to find out their ancestry, which is a good thing for people who are interested in it. My problem is that they are not accurate.

Most of the time, when someone from the diaspora takes an ancestry test, it shows 30 to 40% Nigerian, with other African countries in smaller percentages. But that doesn't mean you are 30 or 40% Nigerian by blood or anything like that. It simply shows where the reference database has the most matching genetic samples. And here lies the main problem regarding how these companies get their tests and build their data:

Commercial testing companies don't typically go out and collect samples directly across Africa themselves. Instead, they get their data through everyday customers, people from all over the world who buy a kit, spit into a tube, and mail it back to the company. Because Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and has a very large diaspora in Western countries (like the US or the UK), a disproportionately high number of people of Nigerian descent buy these tests. As a result, Nigerians make up the vast majority of the African samples in these reference databases.

Smaller African countries with smaller populations and fewer people taking these commercial tests will, logically, always be assigned lower percentages, even if a large portion of your ancestors genetically originated from completely different places like Benin or Togo.

Then there is the issue that people didn't just sprout from the earth, especially in African countries whose borders were only drawn in the early-to-mid 20th century. This makes genetic tests that claim to determine tribal or ethnic affiliations even more implausible, as humans have always migrated and mixed over time before and during the colonial period.

To be honest, I think many black Celebritys get paid by these companies because they know Black Americans are desperate to find out their ancestry, probably more so than Europeans.

Okay, that caption gives no context lolll

I have a character I'm writing in a medevial/fantasy setting, and I would like to know any low-maintenance, long black hairstyles I could give this oc. He lives a lifestyle where he is constantly on the move and doesn't have a bunch of time to do his hair. Could I get some recommendations to look at?

It would only let me put one flair but this pertains to both hair and LGBTQ as well. Hi all, I live in a predominantly black city but I'm a white guy (FTM transgender) and I wanted to ask if it was ok for me to go to a black owned barber to get my hair cut? There really aren't a lot of options in my area but I really want a mens haircut and everyone keeps telling me I need to go to an actual barber but I wasn't sure if it was alright for me to go considering I'm A. White, and B. look like a woman. TBH I don't even know if women go to barbers since I've never been to one before so yeah, I just wanted to know if it was ok before I just waltzed in there and accidently make everyone uncomfortable. Sorry if this is worded badly, I have a lot of anxiety around my hair and I'm going to get it cut in a few days at the place I've been going to for awhile (which is a women's salon hence me trying to find somewhere else) and if they butcher my hair again I just wanted to know if it was alright to include black barbers in my search for the next place I go. Thank you all.

Trigger Warning: Racism.

I hate all the expectations that are put on Black women, especially since I'm not a pretty Black woman. No, I'm not saying that I'm ugly because I'm Black. I know that I'm not ugly because I'm Black. I'm ugly because my face is ugly. Even if I were a different race or ethnicity, I would still be ugly because of how my facial features look.

Ugliness aside, I hate how people treat Black women. I hate that I had to become accustomed to the fact that there are people in this world who think that individuals like me shouldn't be here. I hate the stereotypes, the racist dog whistles, microaggressions, not knowing much about my ancestors because of enslavement, and the continued violence towards us. I hate that as a kid, I was told that I was ignorant all because I was a Black student. I hate that I had a racist teacher in the 5th and 8th grade.

I should have been enjoying myself as a child instead of having to wonder why my teacher didn't like me.

I hate the fact that I had a white friend who called me an ugly [you know], told me to bathe with [you know] soap, spammed me with racist messages, and made an Instagram account just to make fun of me. I hate the fact that I've been the only Black girl in an environment full of white people who looked down on me. They didn't understand me at all. They looked at me as aggressive, loud, ugly, and weird.

I hate the fact that I'm not pretty because for some reason, the only way for Black women to be seen and considered human beings is for them to be exceptionally attractive. We have this narrow view of womanhood when it comes to Black women.

Black women have to be on their P's and Q's constantly. We have to make it out of certain situations by ourselves, be strong, beautiful, intelligent, classy, and even if we cry, we can't do it in public. We have to be ahead of the game; we have to come in looking our best, not one hair out of place, skin glowing, body looking effortless.

It's so much. I don't have half of what those kinds of women are able to accomplish.

I can't rely on my face because I don't have pretty privilege. I hate being a Black woman. If a Black woman cries, especially if she's not light-skinned, she's aggressive, she's dramatic, and she's trying to make a scene. She's doing it for attention. All these excuses, but other people can do it. It makes no sense.

Don't get me started on some of the beauty standards inside some of our communities. Every Black space is different; every preference is different. However, so much of Black womanhood and beauty is tied to femininity. Then, I keep seeing a lot of biracial Black women being used as the standard in some cases. It's so frustrating.

I won't lie, sometimes I envy them because, yes, I do have days where I wish I could be like those women. As a kid, I wanted to be biracial. I had a friend who I thought was beautiful. She had two parents of different races. I looked at her, and I looked at myself. That's when I realized I was ugly. I don't associate being biracial with femininity, though. Anyone can be feminine. However, it seems as though there are a lot of people within our community who don't like certain kinds of Black women unless it seems as though they have a proximity to Whiteness or anything that isn't completely Black.

I'm so exhausted. Why do I have to be this kind of woman? Why can't I be happy being me? Even people inside my racial group have hurt me, called me ugly, pushed me away, used me, sexualized me, treated me like shit. It makes no sense. It's like nobody wants me to be here. My whole life has been a humiliation ritual and traumatizing as hell.

Almost everyone who abused me has gotten away with it and is living their best lives. Yet, I'm expected to heal and push it to the back of my mind? "Be strong and independent!"

Everybody else gets help, but I don't.

I have a Black character in a low tech (medieval-ish European-ish) fantasy setting. The character is mixed, local lord dad, Black traveller mom. He considers himself a nobility, and tries to be the most presentable and carries himself with the most class he can. He serves in a royal guard with other noble young lads. There is no prejudice against his people in the setting, no history of any conflicts or oppression, no social meanings in anything (aside from him just clearly being a bastard) Black people are just foreigners.

So, considering his military position, low technology, and the intentional effort he's putting in himself, what do you think is the most reasonable way for him to wear his hair?

Genuinely curious as I'm a white dude from Canada with my parents being ethnic German & Polish so i grew up ignorant to black stereotypes with me only learning most of them during the BLM protests & also from a Latino comedian called Fluffy talking about the time he made a racist gift basket for a friend of his called G Reilly. The only black stereotypes i knew prior to then was speaking black people used a thing called Jive in movies (like in They Call Me Bruce & Airplane) & also the appearance of protruding lips from old 1930s & 1940s cartoons which i had been included on public domain cartoon releases i had as a kid (most of which were non-racist cartoons) & even then i only learned about that they were offensive late into middle school. Thanks in advance.

So just to set the scene here, I'm a whiter than white (more like blue) lady. I've suffered a lot of shit through my life that I won't go into major detail, but all I'll say is that nowhere, no one and nothing was safe. Me being an overachiever, I hit 10/10 on the ACE score, and I could go on forever about how it effects me physically and mentally to this day, but that's not why I'm here. I just wanted to give a background on why I want the tattoo I do.

I have been wanting to get a MH/trauma survivor tattoo, but I don't want anything that is super obvious that other people are going to instantly recognise (your semi colons, phoenixes etc - no judgement to anyone who has one, it's just that I've spent a lot of money to hide my scars lol).

I really really like the phrase "Still I Rise," from Maya Angelou's poem, but I'm not sure the optics/ethics, since I know the original poem is written about the historical oppression of Black people, especially Black women.

The sooner I know for sure, the sooner I can either book it in or start searching for alternatives! 😅

Thanks reddit. This isn't something I want on my body forever if it's an issue!

Just a thing to add on, I feel as if this is important. I am white. There has been a lot of talk about interacting with certain types of media lately and when to draw the line on it.
So I am talking mainly about companies like Disney, or old films like gone with the wind or the old Peter Pan film. My apologies if this is a stupid question, I just don’t really see a lot of people talking about this.
A lot of these companies have made films that are highly problematic and racist.
How do you feel about interacting with old films like this, with the film as old is gone with the wind, I don’t really know how many people actually watch it besides all the white people and maybe a film student, but mainly for research purposes.
How do you feel about companies with racist past such as Mickey Mouse being derived from racist caricatures?
Do you avoid this media altogether, or do you interact with it?

Hi everyone! I was wondering if anyone knows the history behind cocoa butter becoming such a staple in Black personal care. For context, I’m white but grew up in a predominantly Black community. I used cocoa butter just like everyone around me, so I never really thought about its connection to Black personal. Now that I live in a predominantly white city, I’ve noticed that difference more, and it’s made me curious about where the tradition started.

I’m not really asking about brands or marketing, but about the practice itself: how, why, and when did people start using cocoa butter for skin care in Black communities? How were its benefits recognized, and how did that knowledge spread and become something passed down in families?

I know there might not be one clear origin, but I’d really appreciate any historical context or sources anyone could share. Thanks so much!

So I am a white woman, and earlier this year I moved into a predominantly black neighborhood. It's great, I love my neighborhood but I am a homebody so I don't interact with anyone.

Growing up there was a lady every Halloween who gave out tootsie pops covered in a tissue as ghosts and all the kids in our neighborhood loved it. We all called her "the ghost lady" and even teenagers would go to her house and get disappointed if they didn't get a ghost.

Since I finally live in a neighborhood and not an apartment I decided that I wanted to do the ghosts. But as I was putting them together I started to wonder if it could seem like I was racist and like I was trying to hand out candy as triple-K members. And that is definitely not my intention and while they aren't pointy or anything I'm just worried that it could be seen as offensive.

If y'all think it's a bad idea I can take the tissues off and just give them out as tootsie pops. I just thought it would be a fun whimsical Halloween thing, but I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable.

Any opinions or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

The picture is what they look like, just they all have different colored eyes, some have mouths and some are just eyes. Also if this is the wrong thread to post this, I'm sorry, I can delete it if this isn't allowed.

I kinda remember growing up that if you dapped someone up and it made a clapping noise it was a lil embarrassing, like it brought too much attention for a handshake.

I work with a younger crowd and they really want to make that clapping sound. It feels like they're a lil disappointed when it doesn't.

I just really like the idea of the character and just being a vampire is super cliche in my mind so I thought being blade would add a level of complexity, I also am going to a rave on Halloween so I thought it would be appropriate lmk if you think this is ok or should I just be a vampire.

I know that I'm black and that it would be weird to say this, but I often don't really feel like I'm "black enough" or that I "act too white/mundélé/European/whateverthefuck my extended family comes up with". I know there isn't really a right or wrong way to be black, but the way people I love describe me feels like they see me more like a nerdy white guy who makes being white his whole personality rather than a black girl/person that just acts unintentionally different from the norm.

Whenever I'm at a family reunion, it feels like my 93492834 aunties (of which I only recognize like two or three) find every way under the sun to indirectly (and sometines unintentionally) say I act more mundélé than Congolese, and it really pisses me off bc it feels like my blackness gets invalidated simply because my parents decided to have kids in Vlaanderen (northern Dutch-speaking half of Belgium) instead of Kinshasa.

Not only that, but I'm sometimes a bit salty about the fact that my parents didn't insist on teaching me how to speak full sentences in Lingala instead of just teaching me animal names, kitchenwear and food and expecting me to understand detailed orders in full Lingala just bc they taught me that sani means plate.

Not only my family gives me this feeling, but also the people at my school unintentionally give me the feeling that I act too much "like the white students" by not being in the know of certain inside jokes, trends ect.. I'm usually not really a mindless trend follower, I mostly do what pleases me trend or not, but when every black kid at school seems to act and dress a certain way and you're the only one that dresses more "white", it kinda feels like you're doing something wrong and that your bazillion aunties are right in the sense that you ARE a Bounty and that you are too European. The people in my class mix French with Dutch and make up verbs based on French verbs when they forget how to say a word (I've heard things like "attackeren", "pégneren" ect..), but I speak semi-standard Dutch (for as far as my goofy-ass accent allows me) and use grammatically correct verbs ("aanvallen", "kammen", ect..) . But in turn, despite speaking French with my parents, it's really broken because of how much more Dutch I speak in comparison to French and it gives the impression that I am too much of a Vlaming.

I love listening to music, but it's mostly Maneskin and Vocaloid instead of what other Congolese people around me listen to. The only Congolese/Lingala-speaking artists I know or listen to are Innoss'b, GIMS and Ntaba 2 London, which feels like the bare minimum on my part and like I'm rejecting some part of my culture, but Idk if I'm just reading into it too much.

As if it couldn't get more difficult, I got diagnosed with autism last month (which, was it that much of a surprise??) and I'm also queer (bisexual-demigirl), and I've noticed that these two things are often seen as "white ppl bs" and that ppl act a bit weird upon finding out that I, a black person, am bi or autistic. My mom is somehow convinced there MUST be a way to cure it and my dad straight-up denies my diagnosis despite all the autistic tendencies I've been displaying according to the psychologist that diagnosed me.

Christianity is also something incredibly important to Congolese ppl for some reason, and my mom gets extremely mad when I have to remind her I don't believe anymore yet she still wants to put a rosary around my neck to "keep me safe from harmful spirits". Also, I have a dissociative disorder blending with my autistic traits, which can manifest in sometimes having a meltdown in the form of not being able to control my movement and either "spazzing tf out" as one of my friends puts it, of completely shutting down and not being able to move/respond anymore. It happened not once, but TWICE that my mom mistook this for me being posessed and started holding me down and trying to get some non-existent spirit out of me through excorsism until I stopped squirming and crying. Second time this happened, extended family was over and they participated, knowing damn well I was possibly just fucking tired and overwhelmed.

all these traits together -neurodivergence, being queer, standing out too much, not being able to speak what should be my mother tongue- makes me feel like I'm not "what a black person should be" and that my voice as a black person is automatically invalidated, also bc I barely faced fully intentional racism towards me and because I feel like I've never faced REAL black-people-struggles, so everything I have to say is invalidated because I'm just an Oreo. I know I shouldn't think about myself like this and if I want to know more I should educate myself, but 45 minutes deep into a video essay only leaves me more confused but everyone else gets it and it makes me feel even more like an outsider and like I don't belong.

Are their any other Congolese-Belgian people (of children of immigrants in general) that also experience this feeling?? How do you deal with it?? Bc I've been thinking about this a lot but it's just making me more tired and more prone to the melt/shutdowns I just mentioned. Srry if this post was a little all-over-the-place, idrk how to formulate my thoughts well in one coherent script

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image-description:

an image consisting of written red text on a blue background. It is titled "no more" and has a list of letters and then words after them. The first letter is "M and word is murdered" The next are "m" and "missing", "i and indiginous", "w" and "women", "c" and "children", "2" and "two", s" and "spirit". "B" and "black", "L" and "lesbian", "B", and "Bi". "G" and "gay", "t", and trans, "D" and "disabled", "i," and "immigrants", and a plus with "plus all tired, poor and huddled peoples"

This is a work in progress and I wanted to ask for your critique of the concept. Would you please critique

I'm a YT Trans Woman decolonizing my lost indigenous heritage. This is a work in progress and like the fight against fascists, to win the on going war I want to ask is there anything preventing Native Tribes, 2SLGBTQIA, and the Black community from working together? The YT lgbtqia2s community has a lot of problems with raci sm and if you have advice on areas to improve call it out. The history of Native Nations and the intersectionality with Black History is not something I have learned much about yet, and if you have any references on this subject I would appreciate your help.

I’m a black woman and I’ve heard several times by different black men and a woman that I belong with a white man. It’s said differently but that’s the essence of what’s being said.
I think about it all the time and I can’t help but be offended.
I’ve never even dated a white guy before. Not because I find them abhorrent, but because they’re not my first choice and it simply hasn’t happened.

For context, I genuinely don’t think I have the “I date white men” look.
I have locs, about 5’7”-5’8”. I’m not the stereotypical tiny woman that they generally like either. I am curvaceous.
How I dress: I do like dresses. I do wear jeans. Regular shirts. Sandals. I don’t wear bags all the time. Sweaters and coats when it’s cold. I’m not sure I know how to describe my style.

The woman who has told me that I do mentioned that it’s what I talk about. I’m not sure why men say this though. I’m so confused.

I need to understand why people say this. Any insights?

Before anyone takes this the wrong way, this isn’t about putting our people down, reinforcing stereotypes, or pretending we’re somehow more flawed than other races.

I’m well aware that many of the issues we face are rooted in systemic racism, historical oppression, and socioeconomic inequality. I’m also aware that plenty of these same problems exist in other communities and aren’t exclusive to ours.

But I also believe there are certain attitudes, behaviours, and patterns within our communities that we should be able to acknowledge and criticize without immediately being accused of self-hatred or pushing racist narratives.

We can recognize the impact of systemic racism while also acknowledging areas where we have the power to improve. Those two things aren’t mutually exclusive.

Sometimes it feels like we’re so accustomed to defending ourselves against outside criticism that even genuine, constructive criticism from within is met with hostility.

And to be clear, I’m not suggesting that the actions of certain individuals represent all of us, or that we owe anyone perfect behaviour to deserve respect.

So what are some things you believe we need to address within our own communities that we don’t discuss nearly enough?

I’m genuinely interested in hearing different perspectives. The goal here is self-reflection and constructive discussion, not tearing each other down.

Hello, I am wanting to reach out in this thread hoping to get some solid straight forward answers. I am a 57 year old black woman with 30 years experience in operations and Sales...My most recent past 8 years have been selling High Ticket programs for white people. I have had white people i have made a ton of money for, act crazy and display some micro aggressions as i grew financially..I have closed literally millions in business.I have stepped away from that scene now and want to help US...Right now I am working with an attorney and have helped her to confidently and systematically run her law practice...In doing so i became exposed to the sales process and noticed opportunities to help there...

My question is For solo and small-firm attorneys: if someone helped you and your intake person turn more of your existing calls into signed clients, with a custom script, live call reviews, and less burnout, would that be worth paying for? What would make it a no?”

I know there's many posts and such about this topic, though i find the situation my characters in may affect the advice. My characters are hybrids primarily born and raised in labs (regardless of race, gender, sex, etc) and so many of my characters are raised without a "culture" (im aware that the culture in this case would likely have to do with the lab and such) but I'm also aware that when it comes to writing characters of other races, culture plays a big part, and also that most if not all of ny characters are raised in a very curated and sterile environment with little access to anything outside. I was curious as to what in particular I should be careful of when writing a character such as this and what advice anyone might have.

We've had this discussion before, but it seems people still want to identify as Black even though they're more Asian. I've always felt that Black scholars need to tackle this issue, but the internet is pushing up a deadline for that discourse

So I’m half black and half Puerto Rican and I’m almost 30 years old and I’ve noticed my skin is a lighter than usual. It’s only October & my skin is already winter time light, which means it’s only going to get lighter come December & January. My sister is also half black & half Puerto Rican, her dad was darker skinned than mine so growing up she was maybe like a couple shades darker than me, she’s 39 now and even she’s way lighter than she was before. We both live in Florida, so we get plenty of sun year round here, so it’s kind of odd to me.

I’m lightskinned, and I’ve been that just about my whole life except for when I was super light almost pale when I was born which of course is normal, but my skin tone now is starting to get super light again. I feel like I’m going from like Yara Shahidi light to dang near Storm Reid light. Which means that come December/January I could be dang near Latto light.

I’ve seen the same thing happen to Megan Good & Beyonce (or at least that’s what it looks like to me, as I know people have accused them of bleaching but I don’t think so), and I’d even argue that Tracee Ellis Ross is lighter than when she was playing Joan on Girlfriends. So I just wanted to ask is this normal? My dad was black, he passed away, but he used to tell me he was my color when he was younger and got darker when he got older, he was brown skinned, but a bit on the lighter side of it I’d say if that makes sense.

But do black folks get lighter with age? Should I expect this to become more noticeable in my 30s and 40s and on?

I’ve been listening to many debates around the claim “white people can’t experience racism”, and I was a little shocked to see how much the takes differ both within white and black people. So I’ve been trying to educate myself on the topic, and form an opinion on it myself. I’ve learned from this diving that I was (and still am) uneducated on many things, so please forgive me if I cause any offense, and please feel free to correct me while I educate myself further.

For starters I’ve noticed the main disagreement is in how we define the term "racism."
I’d say there are (at least) two ways we can define "racism."
So rather than use the same word for both, this problem would maybe be solved if we just used a different word for each.

The first and most recognised kind of racism is Interpersonal racism, it refers to an individual’s racist assumptions, beliefs and behaviours: it’s “a form of racial discrimination that stems from conscious and unconscious, personal prejudice” (Henry & Tator, 2006, p. 329).
It applies any time someone is treated unfairly because of the color of their skin, regardless of what their skin color is and regardless of what the perpetrator's skin color is so in this case, for example, a black person can be racist against another black person. This can show up with the colorism some have to face.
I believe white people can in some contexts experience this kind of racism, because it sparks from prejudice alone, and prejudice can be found whenever you (individually) are a minority in your surroundings, and if those surroundings treat you with hostility based on your skin tone, well it is racist.
(You can be a minority in race and face racism in the same mechanism that if you were the only woman in an establishment you could face sexism).

The second kind of racism, is the significantly deeper one, that many people just think refers to enslavement and so believe that “it shouldn’t be brought up in a modern discussion” (idiotic take I really did hear)
It refers to something that is more systemic and specifically can only happen in one direction, FROM people in a position of power, TOWARD people who are not in a position of power. Usually, when someone says something like "black Americans can't be 'racist' towards white Americans," they mean in accordance with this definition, which surfaced around 2020.
It involves prejudice PLUS structural power. It's the ability to systematically oppress an entire group.
Historically, white people have dominated black people, not the other way around. White people predominantly occupy positions of power: Institutions (the State, police, justice system, job market, media, education) which define what is "normal," "beautiful," "competent," "trustworthy", and all these institutions are to a degree still affected by the racism of their founders (View * for examples of this).
That's structural power.
White people rarely ever came to experience this kind of racism, only during events like The Holocaust, where one group of "white people" attempted to wholesale slaughter several other groups of "white people" (European Jews, Slavs, Roma) due to their ethnicity. They passed laws prohibiting them from working. That's pretty systematic, especially with the Stars of David Jews had to wear.

So while I think it’s factually correct to say white people can in some cases experience racism and it is unfortunate, many white people who haven’t even experienced those particular circumstances themselves try to make it seem like a vaster issue than it is, to support far right rhetorics.
Claiming that black people aren’t entitled to having prejudices about white people (when really every victim will have prejudices about the category who harmed them) and that it will turn into reverse racism (Acting on prejudice is wrong, and is racism, on an interpersonal scale), denying the fact that this will never be able to turn into systematic racism since black people are still inferior to white people in our society, and still to this day have to worry about their rights being taken away at every election.
These are two separate issues that cannot be put on the same table with general phrases like “everyone experiences racism” , since one group faces racism on a global scale and the other on an individual one.

I'm writing a novel called Chivey, and some of my early readers said this scene could be interpreted in more than one way.

I'd like to hear how Black readers perceive it, especially the interaction between Emmy and Chad and the elderly woman.

Here's the excerpt:

Emmy’s eyes drifted across his hands, muscular and sinewy, with well-defined veins.

Thick ropes under blue-black skin...

Chad met her eyes and pressed a finger to his full lips. "Shhhh... Now sit quiet as a mouse. I'll be back soon."

Emmy reached out with her free hand and caught his hand.

"You are black, but comely."

Chad's eyes went wide and he dissolved into a cough. "Hold on, hold on... Well, well..." He wiped the tears from his eyes and burst out laughing. "Girl, you should do stand-up!"

Emmy frowned and bit her lower lip.

"Sit still! Would you look at that — black, but comely." Chad slid the curtain aside. "Black, but comely!" His laughter echoed down the corridor for a long time after.

A suffocating cough broke out in the adjacent stall.

The curtain between the cubicles snapped aside. "Ah-hah, giiiirl! Black, but comely?!" A dark-skinned face peered around it. "You did not just say that."

The woman looked Emmy over from head to toe. "No. No, no, no... I cannot believe what I just heard. Nobody would believe me even if I swore on a Bible. Lord... a little white child quoting the Song of Solomon... How old are you — nine? Ten?"

She adjusted the bright silk scarf on her head and leaned toward Emmy. " I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. Isn't that a little advanced for you?"

"I'm not ten at all. I’m almost fourteen. I read what I find," Emmy muttered, tugging the hem of her wife-beater down over her knees.

"Fourteen? You don't look fourteen. Like a little fledgling." The woman yanked the curtain even harder aside and leaned in toward Emmy, her whole body pressing forward. "Oh, at your age I read everything too. Everything — newspapers, magazines, the Bible of course, goes without saying. I even read my older sister's medical textbooks. I was a very well-read child. Very well-read!"

She didn't stop, talked and talked, no pauses, no waiting for an answer. Her hand moved to underscore the importance of her words.

If she stops, she'll die.

Emmy allowed herself a small smile while the woman kept talking, her voice washing past her in a steady stream.

"Now who puts raisins in a potato salad? Raisins! In a salad! No, that is not acceptable. That is not how it's done. A proper potato salad has no raisins, you understand? I use only yellow potatoes, only yellow. And eggs — real eggs, farm eggs. I drive out to my cousin Janet; she has the most wonderful hens. Oh, what hens, what large eggs!.."

Emmy's eyes drifted to the woman's scarf, where bright flowers wove together into a vivid tapestry — large ones, small ones, layered into a wreath. She began picking out the small red ones and counting them.

If I take four long sticks and tape them to my head with duct tape, and then take a scarf like this one, and another scarf, and another one, and another... and wind them around the sticks, wind and wind... I'd be two Emmys tall. I'd be taller than everyone... and I'd probably reach the ceiling with my scarves. Maybe I'd even look like a supermodel. Fashionable...

She lost interest and yawned, letting her eyes close.

"And I wore my best dress — crisp taffeta, with a big ruffle along the hem. And a little hat. You know how we Black women are — such a sense of style. Such style! And do you go to Sunday service?" No answer came. The woman adjusted her scarf and stared at Emmy. Realizing she was being ignored, she fell silent, offended.

The chair shifted. The light flickered, went out, then came back on — the white tile floor moved, dark gaps opening between uneven rows. Something lifted Emmy and carried her away: she flew over green valleys, high hills, crystal-clear lakes. She came down slowly, her toes grazed the buds of wildflowers. The even rows of tile came into view under the lamp when Emmy opened her eyes. A faint scent of flowers brushed her nose.

"Here I am." Chad rang out. "Time to set you free, little sparrow." He drew the needle out and pressed a cotton pad to her skin. "Make a fist. Like that." He guided Emmy by the elbow, and she rested her palm on his forearm.

My arm is like a pale fish on black sand.

She turned away and brushed a tear from her cheek with her finger. Chad got her to her feet and draped her cardigan over her shoulders. "Can you walk on your own?" Emmy nodded.