In this episode I talk about navigating race relations throughout high school

and a little bit of middle school especially with me being the daughter of two

immigrants who never really understood what race relations in America were like, especially as a black woman. So I talk about my consciousness and the coming of age, essentially, to knowing who I am and being nobody but myself in all spaces.

I hope you guys enjoy episode two of passing through high school.

My dad didn't have any white friends growing up in Isekinese in Nigeria. My mom didn't have any black friends growing up in Campuncheum, Cambodia.

They were both born and raised in fairly homogenous societies,

and didn't encounter issues with race or racism until coming to America.

Sure, there was tribalism, socialism, and classism in both of their home countries,

but assessing someone's character solely based on pigmentation

was a new phenomenon. Along their journeys of US citizenship

marriage and raising children, they couldn't avoid the inevitable American

stain of stereotypes. When they migrated to the burbs, they figured that sticking their kids in primarily white schools would lead to good English, better grades, and the best set of friends foreign parents could ask for.

Of course, this was before they heard one of my Caucasian friends tell their mom to shut up using their first name.

But let's fast forward to high school. Actually let's rewind to my beloved Catholic middle school where my eighth grade class had probably the largest

cluster of children of color. A whopping eight kids. When you're young, microaggressions

don't really make sense. You kind of feel like this person probably shouldn't be saying that, but then you realize you have more pressing issues to tackle.

Like how you're going to trade your unripe grapefruit for Justin's nerve rope.

And there are plenty of microaggressions

and whole ass macroaggressions that come to mind

when reflecting on my middle school experience.

But I distinctly remember a questionable comment

made by my seventh grade music teacher during after school auditions.

...