
Photo by Maria Liu Wong
By Maria Liu Wong
Last Sunday, on the way to church, my 4-year-old daughter, Immy, and I stopped by a bodega by the subway station. An older African-American woman standing by the door saw Immy and said, “She’s gorgeous! You’d better lock her up when she turns 16!” I smiled in response and said she’d be taking self-defense lessons, starting early. We bantered on a bit more, and then I headed downstairs to the subway with Immy.
As we rode the subway to church, I thought about the conversation and the woman’s advice to protect and hide my daughter away because of what she looks like. (more…)