And this is how life sometimes surprises you.  A year ago, I walk into a bubble tea shop.  The cashier appears Black to me. So I order and she speaks perfect Chinese.  It turns out that her dad was Black and her mom is from China. She grew up there since she was 3 before returning to the US only a year or two ago to finish high school, living in a predominantly Black neighborhood of NYC.

We ended up exchanging stories about food, culture, immigration, etc.  The conversation evolved into belonging, fitting in, calling, faith, etc.  So we exchanged information and the discussion has continued since then.

It’s been a while since I’ve taught but because of her background, she understands way beyond her age.  I showed her a videoclip from one of the X-Men movies where Magneto tells Mystique to stop hiding who she is as it is a waste of energy.  She is so focused on disguising her true form that it distracts her from the task at hand – in this case lifting weights. When she’s in her true form, it’s when she’s the strongest – a lesson that I struggled to fully grasp and learn,

I told her that this is her power and strength – a child of two worlds, to never be ashamed of that, that she will be formidable beyond measure and that is how the world changes.