Introduction

Last year was a year of much racial tension. I think many white people were caught off guard as it was the first time they had heard of a lot of things people of color were voicing.

I’ve always had friends of different races (my elementary school boyfriend was from Iraq!). I still never really understood where my friends of color were coming from. I never considered myself a racist by any means, but I pushed back against many claims of discrimination and racism I heard from friends. I thought they were exaggerating or making mountains out of molehills. I didn't understand why everything had to come down to race.

Before we adopted our girls*, I started realizing that maybe I needed to listen more to people of color about their experiences instead of listening to white people’s opinions about the experiences of people of color. When we decided that we’d be open to adopting a child of any race, I started doing even more reading, more listening, and more thinking.

Now, I’m the mom of two girls of races different than mine. My eyes are even more open to the differences between White America and everyone else. This exercise originated on my Facebook page and took place over the 29 days of February. I made a daily post that highlighted a way that life is different for people of color.

Upon the suggestion of a friend, I've compiled all of the entries here (published in reverse order so that they can be read in their original chronological order).

I hope you’ll read along even if it makes you defensive, uncomfortable, or angry.

*My husband and I have three children. We have a biological son who is white like us, an adopted black daughter, and an adopted biracial Navajo/Irish daughter. They are referred to throughout as B, KG, and M, respectively.