Ah, well, thanks. I appreciate that. I honestly believe wealthy, well educated bigots inflict a lot more harm in both the short and long run. They have the money to influence and frequently the ability to craft appealing rhetoric that sounds both logical and socially appropriate. They can justify murder if they have a mind to.

A lot of factors have brought me to where I am today. A lot about my childhood and teenage years did not strike me as unusual at the time. The realization that most people didn't have a 5 day a week maid or places to spend the summer just didn't hit home while I was "living in it". I look back on what was normal for my family at and am stunned by how fortunate we were, how much we took for granted. How many assumptions I made. The first huge eye opener was in the summer between my Junior and Senior years. I participated in a summer theater program at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, MD. I became friends with a Black girl from DC during that summer. One day, she didn't come back to the theater from the restroom. I went to find her because we were reading scenes and we're up next. I found her in the bathroom beaten up, with a wet head, full of bubble gum. Her head had been dunked in the toilet. Several of Montgomery County's finest white girls were responsible. As horrified and angry as I was I cannot begin to understand the pain that young woman felt. I cannot imagine living with that experience embedded in my brain for the rest of my life. Of course, she never came back. And, of course, it didn't make the Post or the Star, because events like that were kept quiet and brushed under the rug. I'd love to tell you that that story is a figment of my imagination, but it's not. I will tell you that it was a huge epiphany for me. Had I seen racism before that day? Yes. Had I ever encountered that level of violence on a personal level before that incident? No. That one day forced me to understand racism viscerally, not just intellectually. It forced me to reevaluate everyone and everything around me. And speak up.