𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐘 𝐇𝐔𝐑𝐓𝐒

𝟏

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𝐅𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊
*𝐒𝐄𝐏𝐓. 𝟗𝐓𝐇 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟑*

Syira skipped outside along with her classmates.

It was finally recess time and she was excited to make new friends at her new school.

Her mom decided to move away from their hometown; Memphis. The crime rate was going up and she didn't want her daughter growing up in a place like that.

She moved Syria and and Syira's little brother, Samir, to North Carolina. Syria was sad about it but didn't really care at the same time because she was very social and good at making friends.

"Hi Ms.Farmer." Syira smiled widely looking up at her teacher.

"Hi Syira, how you liking your first day of 5th grade here?" Ms.Farmer smiled at her.

"It's good. I just don't have any friends yet." Syira shrugged.

"You gonna make some new ones?"

"Yes." Syira nodded eagerly.

"Get to it then! Let me know when you make some new ones."

Syira nodded running off, seeing a group of girls so she headed to them.

"Hey y'all.. my name is Syira." Syira's thick country accent caught the girls attention.

The girls covered their mouth giggling.

"Who asked?" One said laughing.

Syira giggled. "No one.. I just wanted to introduce myself. You guys wanna be my friend?"

The girls all laughed again making Syira furrow her eyebrows. She didn't understand what was funny. She wasn't joking.

"Girl no.. look at you." Another looked her up and down.

"What about me?" Syira asked genuinely confused.

She looked down at her outfit and shrugged because she thought it was alright. Her mom always dressed her in a style she liked, and always reminded her she was beautiful.

"Look at your skin.. it's so.. dark." One of the girls gagged. "Darker than my shoes."

"And your hair.. why does it look so rough? Can you even comb through it?" Another laughed throwing her hair over her shoulder.

"My mom says my skin and hair is beautiful.." Syira rubbed her arm.

"Your mom lied to you."

The girls nodded in agreement.

"You have to be like us before hanging with us."

Syira observed the girl's appearances. Their group was somewhat diverse, white girls, mixed, lightskins, just not any brown or darkskins. Their hair were much different from her's, much curlier..

"How can I be like yall?" Syira asked.

"You can't! You can't hang with us.. move along." The girl shooed her off..

Syira turned around and headed to the basketball court and sat on the bench.

"I'm not even that dark.." She mumbled looking at her arm. "Am I?"

"Hmph.." She mumbled hearing laughter behind her.

And that was just the beginning of the bullying and colorism..

______________________________________

𝐂𝐎𝐏𝐘𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒

𝖭𝗈 𝗉𝖺𝗋𝗍𝗌 𝗈𝖿 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝖻𝗈𝗈𝗄 𝗆𝖺𝗒 𝖻𝖾 𝗋𝖾𝗉𝗋𝗈𝖽𝗎𝖼𝖾𝖽, 𝗋𝖾𝗎𝗌𝖾𝖽, 𝖼𝗈𝗉𝗂𝖾𝖽, 𝗌𝖼𝗋𝖾𝖾𝗇𝗌𝗁𝗈𝗍𝗍𝖾𝖽, 𝗁𝖺𝗇𝖽𝗐𝗋𝗂𝗍𝗍𝖾𝗇 𝗈𝗋 𝗍𝗒𝗉𝖾𝖽, 𝖾𝗍𝖼 𝗐𝗂𝗍𝗁𝗈𝗎𝗍 𝗐𝗋𝗂𝗍𝗍𝖾𝗇 𝖼𝗈𝗇𝗌𝖾𝗇𝗍 𝖿𝗋𝗈𝗆 𝖺𝗎𝗍𝗁𝗈𝗋. 𝖳𝗈 𝗌𝗎𝗆 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝗎𝗉, 𝗱𝗼 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝖼𝗈𝗉𝗒 𝚖𝚢 𝗌𝗁𝗂𝗍.

𝖳𝗁𝖾 𝗉𝗁𝗈𝗍𝗈𝗌 𝗈𝗋 𝗀𝗂𝖿𝗌 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝖺𝗋𝖾 𝗎𝗌𝖾𝖽 𝗂𝗇 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝖻𝗈𝗈𝗄 𝖻𝖾𝗅𝗈𝗇𝗀𝗌 𝗍𝗈 𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗂𝗋 𝗋𝗂𝗀𝗁𝗍𝖿𝗎𝗅 𝗈𝗐𝗇𝖾𝗋. 𝖨 𝗎𝗌𝗎𝖺𝗅𝗅𝗒 𝖽𝗈𝗇'𝗍 𝗀𝗂𝗏𝖾 𝗈𝗎𝗍 @'𝗌 𝖻𝗎𝗍 𝗂𝖿 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝗅𝗅𝗒 𝗐𝖺𝗇𝗍 𝗂𝗍, 𝖨'𝗅𝗅 𝗉𝗋𝗂𝗏𝖺𝗍𝖾 𝗆𝖾𝗌𝗌𝖺𝗀𝖾 𝗒𝗈𝗎.

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗮𝘀
- 𝖵𝗂𝗈𝗅𝖾𝗇𝖼𝖾
- 𝗌𝖾𝗇𝗌𝗂𝗍𝗂𝗏𝖾 𝗍𝗈𝗉𝗂𝖼𝗌
- 𝗌𝖾𝗑 𝗌𝖼𝖾𝗇𝖾𝗌
- 𝗆𝖺𝗍𝗎𝗋𝖾 𝗅𝖺𝗇𝗀𝗎𝖺𝗀𝖾

↳

𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑎𝑦 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑟 𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑟 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑠𝑜𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑛 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑒𝑥𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑖𝑓 𝑞𝑢𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤. ↯

⇩

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔 𝚒𝚜 𝚖𝚢 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔 𝚘𝚏 𝚏𝚒𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗. 𝙽𝚊𝚖𝚎𝚜 , 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜 , 𝚋𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚜 , 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚎𝚜 , 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜 , 𝚕𝚘𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚜 , 𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜 , 𝚎𝚝𝚌 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚍𝚞𝚌𝚝𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚖𝚢 𝚒𝚖𝚊𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚛 𝚞𝚜𝚎𝚏 𝚒𝚗 𝚏𝚒𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚎𝚛. 𝙰𝚗𝚢 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚊𝚕 𝚙𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎 , 𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚛 𝚍𝚎𝚊𝚍 , 𝚘𝚛 𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚊𝚕 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚙𝚞𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚌𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚕. ➫

↴

𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚟𝚘𝚝𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝

𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮

⬊ ⬋

𝑹𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒌