What changed the view of a bigoted person to an anti-racist?

Grew up with an ignorant stepdad, and although I never actually felt hate towards anyone, I'd

laugh at and repeat his jokes.

Until I was kicked out at 18, the only non-white people I'd ever met were a Mexican family,

who were my adopted neighborhood family, and a black guy I was friends with from school.

They also made the same jokes

about their race and laughed long depending on the crowd. It wasn't until I got older that I realized

they were all probably doing that to fit in and could have been living somewhat in fear. After

being kicked out, I moved around a few times before finding a job working with developmentally

disabled adults. I was hired as the white guy, the company and all the

workers were all born in Africa, and moved to the US. It was a culture shock at first, but they

immediately became family. They taught me how to cook, how to treat others and their culture.

They even made sure to teach me how they were treated in public by citizens and police. Since then,

I haven't made or laughed

that a single joke about race. I've made sure to look at everyone the same way no matter what,

and I've made sure to try and help others understand how their actions may not intentionally be

evil, but they can still be hurtful. I've met so many beautiful people that I wouldn't have had the

chance to talk to if I'd followed that influence growing up. If anyone has any thoughts based on the color of someone else's skin and

is reading this, please sit down and have a meal with someone. You'll be surprised how much

you have in common while also having such different lives. I live in a pretty prejudiced country.

Natives here think that we're not that racist, but sometimes

it's just wow. My family also didn't help. Comments about black, Latino and Romani people were

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