(2/32) āI grew up an hour outside of Albany. The neighborhood wasnāt too nice, but it was better than the black neighborhood on Hill Street. Right now the house looks like shit, but back then it was completely clean. And my job was to keep it that way. My mother would come home after work and run her hand along the dining room table. Ā Then sheād look at the tip of her finger. Ā If she saw a speck of dust, sheād beat me with a belt. I hated that woman. The only thing I liked about her was her style. She looked just like the movie star Lena Horne. And whenever she walked down the street, both men and women would stop and stare. There used to be a store in downtown Albany called Flahās. And in the 1940ās if you didnāt buy your clothes from Flahās, you werenāt affluent. Ā My mother only shopped at Flahās. Ā She bought the best of everything: silk blouses, thirteen pairs of shoes, a hat for every day of the week. No matter how much I hated her, and I hated her, Ā I always wanted to dress like her. My mother might have been the only black woman in the capitol that wasnāt working as a secretary. She was special assistant to the Governor. Iāve always wondered how she rose that high, but I certainly have my guesses. She fit in so well with white society that she wanted nothing to do with anything black. She never acted black. Ā She never talked black. Ā She talked about blacks, but never talked black. She used to tell me that Iād be a lot prettier if sheād married someone with lighter skin. And you know what else she tried to tell me once? She was crying about something, and she tried to tell me that she never wanted kids. Ā But she had me anyway so that she could have someone to love. I looked at her like she was crazy. Ā Cause she never showed me love. Ā Not once. The only time we spent together was when I took ballet. I was on pointe at six years old. They wonāt even let kids do that anymore. My mother came to all of my lessons and danced right alongside me. It was the only time we ever bonded. Ā But she couldnāt do pointe. Not even close.ā
titsay
annaxmalina
blakekathryn
yousharknotpass
ellievsbear
dailybridgerton
