Black Dolls in a White Girl’s Barbie Box

There were the oddest requests I would give Santa for Christmas, and my parents for birthday presents. One time, for instance, I asked for “dolls I had never seen before.” This, of course, led to dolls I had never seen before. Of course, by that time I had already asked for another “weird” request – “black Barbie dolls.” Why would I, a blonde white girl, ask for such things as a child? Simple – I was making friends with all kinds of dolls. Since I had trouble making friends with people, I was making friends with different dolls. My mother and father would make friends with many kinds of people, and so did my elder sister, or so I thought. Making friends with different people or dolls seemed to be the natural thing to do. Of course, I could not explain this to my parents, so the request just remained weird. Later on, I would extend this somewhat aggressive form of race relations to the kids in my middle school, often at my detriment. Sometimes these kids would bully me because I would get frustrated and scream, but this changed too. Even as I was bullied to the brink of suicide, I would try to make friends without actually knowing how. Sadly, I did grow bitter towards people due to the way members of my family treated me. Nowadays, however, as racial tension grows, I have come back to the tried-and-now-true method of race relations known as making friends. How sad is it that a person is often treated more aggressively or more harshly due to the color of their skin. This is 2015, people! This is the future of the 1960s! Why have we not moved beyond the racial barrier?!

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