Thank you because I needed to hear this. This is a bit of an emotional dump—-

I am a black teen in college who grew up in a neighborhood where I was the only black girl in my school. I was loud, confident, and secure from a young age and I got bullied for being, well you know, a little black girl. I was bigger, taller, and louder than the rest of the kids and had to continuously stand up for myself. It happened so often, all the way into middle/ high school to the point where I stopped clapping back and just took the judgement. It happened so much I started to believe it was true. I’m older now and I no longer believe those things are true but because it happened for years I’ve changed into a shy girl and I hate it. It comes off as arrogan in adulthood. I’m working on it tho. But seriously thank you because I needed to hear this. It is privilege to have gotten by this far (which isn’t far) with how shy I have become and it has become clear to me that I will succeed in life If I become more outspoken. I’m sorry that your experience was the other way around. I don’t usually respond to comments but I guess it’s bc of shyness and nerves, I just read posts, so I just wanted to say thank for the wake up call.