When Leaving Racism Means Leaving One’s Family

And how my son made it so much easier

Mississippi politicians. If not for the Navy, I might have been supporting these people. My family there sure did. (talkpoverty.org)

“I wish you’d just married a Black girl instead.” These were the first words my mom said to me as I stepped onto the front porch of her house in the Mississippi Delta in the early months of 1990. I wasn’t offended — in fact, I knew that by not using the n-word, to her mind she was actually making an effort to be both…