Dear Society,
Growing up as the only person of color in a white household definitely has its hardships. Sometimes my family doesn’t understand my feelings and fears I have just because of the difference in our skin color. A lot of the time I'm told I'm just over reacting when in reality they are just underreacting. I am lucky enough that I haven't had a bad/dangerous experience revolving around the color of my skin, but I have been stereotyped and even had assumptions made about me by other adults.
In elementary school I had to constantly remind teachers that I wasn't part of the ELL program and that I didn't need to practice my English skills. The teachers would sometimes insist that I go with them before realizing I wasn't on their list. Even as a highschooler I've had teachers assume I took ELL classes or assume that English isn't my first language. The worst experience I've had with this is when a teacher insisted that they taught me English and taught me how to read in English in elementary school. As much as I told her that I was never in an ELL class she was persistent in trying to convince me I was in her class. She continued to tell me I probably just forgot I was in her class which frustrated me because it made me feel like she didn't believe what I was saying.
Everyday I have to deal with someone stereotyping me because of the color of my skin. Even if they don't say it to my face I know someone in their mind assumes I don't speak English or even assumes I do drugs or even thinks I'm dangerous. What's sad is some people think me having brown skin somehow predisposes me to being a bad person.
-Anonymous
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