The Wardrobe’s Best Dressed: Self-Talk by Esinam Bediako

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Content Warning: racism or racialized violence

Body/Mind Braid

In  elementary    school,   some   kids  chased  me  down   in   the
playground, calling me ugly and worse. I remember their names
and  their  words,  but   I  won’t  speak  or write  them,  except  to
point  out  that  one  of  the things  they  called  me  was  an  ugly
African.   They   themselves  were   African   American,  too,   but
more  American than me, they figured,  since  their  parents  had
been born  in  the US unlike mine. I  said some know-it-all thing
like, “You know you’re  African, too,  right?”  This  was an  error.
Don’t  try   to   reason  when   bullies  are   driving  you  into   the
ground. Just run: that’s one thing, at least, for which  your  body
is good.

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