Reply #74: The photo

[Karenina]

was of 2 babies, one black and one white facing each other, a professionally posed and lit shot. The white blond was recognizable in detail as a cute kid. The black baby was reaching out, touching the white one, but was nothing more than a dark silhouette. No detail, no identity. I finally lost it when I saw a thread on LBN where a Saudi man dressed in white was photographed taking a picture of 5 completely black-shrouded women. You can easily imagine the comments.

I WAS that black child who became nothing more than a dark spot on a professionally photographed shot, wrapped in a chador of lighting that stripped me of any identity, any detail, anything recognizable. A black blob with perfect white teeth. Just as the baby in that photo was nothing more than a shadow. I was a teenie (1st and only black) J.V. cheerleader at Annapolis High and when the picture was printed in the school paper I just wanted to kill myself. I re-lived that humiliation EVERY TIME I saw that photo.

I didn't contact the poster earlier due to my view that is was MY PAIN and MY PROBLEM; she's really a dear. Then I just lost it...