By Alona
My mother has very light skin and my father has very dark skin, I happened to take after my father. I went to a predominantly Caucasian elementary school. I was literally the only student of color in my kindergarten class. One of my Caucasian classmates had called me an n word and she was making fun of my dark skin and all I could do was cry. As a five year old I didn’t know what that word meant but I knew it wasn’t a nice word, I went home to tell my mom that one of my classmates called me a name and was making fun of my skin color, she asked me what did she say to you, I told her that she had called me a n word and she was making fun of how dark my skin is, my mom felt bad that I had to experience such cruel teasing just because the color of my skin, especially at such a young age. I used to hate being so brown and I absolutely hated when I was called black because my skin is brown, I prefer to go by African American because nothing about my skin is black. The teasing continued, my mom was always at my school trying to make things right and have me in a comfortable learning environment, she didn’t want me to leave the school because I was doing well academically. I was just having troubles socially because I was being teased because the color of my skin, or because my hair had a different texture than the other girls. My mom did everything in her power to make me feel better and to keep me strong she always told me don’t let those mean girls break you down, you are a strong African American girl. She always called me her little chocolate princess. The only way I was able to stay strong and not breakdown was my mom she always made feel special, and she helped me learn to love myself for who I am, she made me feel comfortable in my skin, it took time but she made a way. The older I got the less people teased me because I was able to stick up for myself. I still get teased at the age of 15 just because the color of my skin, I just learned to be happy with who I am and not let other people’s opinions matter.