Karmen Collins
TR
8:00-9:15AM
Corbly Hall
#306
9/12/02

“Remembered Event”

When Sojourner Truth was older she became to realize how the society was around her and how different everything is out in the real world. When I was younger my mother use to tell me how things worked that I didn’t even experience yet and how things were that I didn’t see, but I didn’t suspect or even think that I would actually experience it at the age of eleven in sixth grade. As a young child all the way up to high school I lived in a predominantly Caucasian environment. All my friends; males and females were Caucasian. I participated in activities and athletics to become popular since I felt as though I dominated in those areas. So every Friday I would help sponsor dances at my school and other events with my friends. It just so happened one day a girl in my science class named Nicole asked if she could catch a ride that Friday night to the dance with me and I said sure I will call Thursday night to let you know what time I will pick you up. I went and asked my dad and he said yes so I called Nicole and told her what time and everything was settled. After that incident we became good friends and we would talk in class about homework and call each other to gossip about cute boys, but I wouldn’t go over her house. Even though I wasn’t allowed to go over her house I felt close enough to her to talk about anything and she wouldn’t tell anyone. We didn’t even resemble each other; she was short, I was tall, she had red hair, I had black hair, I was athletic, and she wasn’t. Even though our outsides were different I felt close enough by other things we had in common. People would start to say every where you see Nicole you see Karmen and vise versa. Other girls who didn’t even like or know Nicole would talk about her and how conceited she was when she really wasn’t. Nicole always said she liked me because of that; because I didn’t listen to what anyone else had to say about anything or anyone else unless I experienced it myself. Well I remember one day we got into an argument because she called me a liar. She said she heard from other people that I was talking about her, and I was getting upset because I was supposed to be her friend and she did not believe me when I said they were lying. Well being so we were both angry we started getting loud right in the middle of science class and she called me a “NIGGER”.
At that split second I remember all blood just rushing to my head from being so pissed off at her. I immediately released my anger by cursing her out. I just remembered wanting to just hit her as hard as I could right in her mouth for saying that to me, but something stopped me.
Until this day I don’t know what stopped me, but from that moment on I never talked to her again. I remembered my mother calling the school and complaining saying that Nicole should get some kind of punishment for saying that to a classmate in class. I came into school the next couple of days and seeing her made me not even want to look her in the eye thinking I would just make myself even madder thinking about what she called me. She came up to me and apologized and I didn’t except it and she even wrote me a note saying she was sorry and I gave it right back to her with no response.
As I grew up into my teenager years I never forgot what was said to me and how much remorse I felt towards Nicole. I didn’t know it then, but now I know what my mother was stressing to me for all those years that I didn’t want to hear. I guess from that experience I just watch who my friends are and how close I should get to them and be to them. I remembered thinking to myself was there something I said to make her say that, and I told my mother how I felt and she disagreed with me. My mother said no matter how mad you made her there was no reason for her to say that to you. Even if she was or wasn’t your friend that is not something you just say on an everyday basis. I responded to my mother as if I understood when I was still confused. I still didn’t understand why? I never called her a name because of her culture background. Now that I am older, once again I understand that all people are not the same and have the same way of thinking.
I look back now and realize one of the reasons she called me a “NIGGER” was because she new it would make even madder then I already was, which I think is very wrong. Even though she apologized for her actions I never forgave her for what she said. I don’t think I ever will.