His First Name . . .

Chatting with a fellow who had recently arrived in Massachusetts from the Middle East, Marash Girl asked about some of the issues the young man had had to face and how folks "identified" him. When Marash Girl wondered how folks knew if he was Christian, Jewish, or Muslim (as that seemed to be of importance in that faroff land) and treated him accordingly, he answered, "They know who I am by my first name which is on my identity card." And that, apparently, made all the difference . . .

"STAND TOGETHER AGAINST RACISM!"

Photo by MarashGirl©2021

Love Conquereth All

    

     Lawn sign in Newton Corner . . . words are not needed . . . 

#BLM . . . "I CAN'T BREATHE!"

                      Farlow Park, Newton Corner, Massachusetts - "I CAN'T BREATHE!!!"    Photo by Marash Girl

It's been many, many years since Marash Girl demonstrated with Martin Luther King on the Boston Common, Marash Girl carrying a sign which read, "Armenians for Freedom for All"  . . . and yet . . . "The more things change, the more things stay the same????"

On Coney Island - "We don't want your kind here!"

Marash Girl decided that she wanted to help her friend out by taking her friend's two little boys for an adventure, and adventure it was.  Beginning at their home in their flat in  Puerto Rican Brooklyn, she took the two little brown boys on the subway to the Coney Island Ferry, over the ocean to Coney Island, and then down to the beach that was walking distance to the ferry.  [Marash Girl, at that time, had a deep tan, and very curly hair, thanks to the humidity.] The two little boys were so excited as we walked off the ferry and down to the water.  We were happily playing in the sand and the water when a woman approached us from behind:  'We don't want your kind here,' she stated in a frighteningly frigid tone of voice.

It was the first time that Marash Girl had personally experienced racism . . . but probably not the first or the last time for my playmates.  My heart broke for the little boys who, I hoped, had not heard the comment as they splashed and played in the Atlantic Ocean.

Have you ever experienced racism, dear reader?