everything else was up for debate.
She taught me to challenge
authority and question the system.
The only way it backfired on her
was that I constantly challenged
and questioned her.
—When I was seven years old, my
mother had been dating her new
boyfriend, Abel, for a year maybe,
but at that point I was too young to
know who they were to each other.
It was just “Hey, that’s mom’s
friend who’s around a lot.” I liked
Abel; he was a really nice guy.
As a black person back then, if