Curate, connect, and discover
I felt that. I literally know how that feels. Back in 7th grade we were reading about the holocaust. I was born in Germany and raised there until right before my 7th birthday. I was never ashamed of being from Germany and was proud of being from there. I never bragged about it because I didn't care whether or not people knew.
We were reading "Parallel Journeys" if I remember correctly. This kid, let's call him Brock, stood up and yelled "All germans are corrupt." And nearly everyone in class knew I was a german so they looked at the teacher. She, let's call her Ms. Soul, just said only the jews aren't corrupt.
Everyone looked at me and waited for my reaction. I just looked at the table ashamed. My teacher continued on with the lesson.
Just remembered that time some old white lady in North Carolina cursed me out and threatened me because I'm from New Jersey.
I literally didn't do shit to her. I was lost in a Walmart looking for a Christmas present for my cousin and she came up to me and asked me what I was looking for.
"Oh, I'm looking for a present for my cousin."
Her whole demeanor changed when I spoke cause of my accent (I know I have a very strong New Jersey accent, people tell me all the time).
"Are you from New York?"
"No, I'm actually from New Jersey."
She just started cursing me out, calling me a Yankee and shit. I'm just standing there so confused trying not to cry. Normally, I would've cursed right back at her, but I was too shocked. So I just stood there.
What am I even supposed to say to that? I was just so confused. She literally said, "Go die, Northern trash" to me. How am I supposed to respond to that?