Listen to this compelling story of a Black woman recount a memory from her youth that shaped her perceptions on inequity and discrimination. As an 8-year-old girl, she felt the overwhelming curiosity to drink from the forbidden “White” fountain in her local grocery store. Although the “White” and “Colored” fountains looked the same, she was convinced there was a difference in the water otherwise they wouldn’t have separated them.
I don’t think there’s any way anybody can know what segregation and racism has done to millions of people. But I know the scars are there.
After realizing that the water tasted the exact same in both fountains, Francesca locked that experience away deep inside of herself out of fear that if anyone found out she could be arrested. This is one of the scars that racism left on Francesca. The impact of this childhood moment exemplifies the damage of segregation and racism and how it reverberates across generations.
