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When I Was A Little Girl

When I was a little girl, my family always loved winter, the lights the snow, the warm car. We always went to look at the different houses, sometimes even got out to walk. One day we were visiting one of my mom's friends and decided to go look at the Christmas lights in her neighborhood. As we were walking we had seen this really pretty house, with a big front door, a mailbox, and a circular driveway, just another home. You could tell kids lived there, the snowman they had built and the swing set in the back. While passing by my little brother had turned to my parents and asked them what "nigger" meant, and my parents explained to him and then asked where he heard this word, he then turned to the house and pointed to the ground where the word "nigger" was written in the snow in really big letters. A family, a home, just like everyone else's, where they had bothered no one. One night someone decided to take weed killer and burn it in giant letters into their lawn. This is why our nation, the melting pot of many races, needs to confront the problem and deal with what really is in front of us.
When I first really thought about this, I thought, this is not Mississippi, or
Alabama; this is Michigan, and it's in a really nice neighborhood. And the thing is, they

are a normal family, just like any other. I was friends with this family, whenever my

family was in the neighborhood; I would always go over there and play. They went on

trips in the summer, and spring, and this time came back to a message on the lawn.

I sat there that day watching cars go by their house as if it were

haunted or something. I guess it can happen anywhere. But this snow-covered

house is still a reflection of America, white on top with a hatred burning

underneath. I go to a college, where the races meet every day. Colored man helps

white man; white man helps colored man, sounds right. That's how bad our society has

gotten, disturbing, of course....