I moved to Alpharetta/Roswell, a predominantly white suburb of Atlanta, at a very young age from the predominantly black neighborhoods in Philadelphia and New York.
In Philadelphia, I attended Catholic school with many races but when I got off the bus I was surrounded by people who looked like me.

When my family moved to NY, I attended my first public school. And honestly I don’t remember seeing someone that wasn’t a minority in my neighborhood or school. Except ME. I was bullied on a daily basis for many reasons. It could have been because I spoke differently, was it because I dressed differently. Either way, whatever the reason, it changed me. I was no longer that sweet innocent girl who thought she was going to marry Michael Jackson. (Happy Birthday MJ RIP)

When I got to GA I was an angry 10 year old and now I was one of 3 black people in a class in a school that had less than 100 of us.

I was smaller than most, younger than most but my attitude was bigger than them all. I got in my share of fights with kids who just wanted touch my hair. Or the reverse because sometimes I wanted to touch theirs. This was the time when boys and girls discovered each other. But no one discovered me. I wasn’t invisible but I wasn’t desirable. But that is another story for another blog at another time….tune in.

This is about when 10 year old me decided to take a stand.
I remember refusing to stand for the pledge in   class. I remember the school calling my mother telling them I was a distraction, I was insubordinate. Luckily, this was one of the battles my mother chose to be on my side.
Honestly what did 10 year old me know about injustice, I don’t know the statement I was trying to make. If one at all. I was probably just seeking attention, being a rebel, or just didn’t feel like standing up. Either way it was my 10 year old right to sit and not pledge my allegiance to something I didn’t believe in at the time.
Something I’m still trying to figure out why I should believe in now.

All that to say I stand with Colin Kaepernick.

We are so upset of a grown man who has done no harm to others by just peacefully sitting in order to shed light on the MANY MANY injustices the black community is facing.
So many changes have been made in history when people just chose to have a seat.

So have several seats America!