There’s something about feeling like an outsider in the place where you grew up that stings. Like family members who no longer recognize you. |
I was already dreading the thought of doing it again, having to face those saccharine smiles trying to understand, Why are you here?
Again, I’m a black woman with a Jewish mother, and I live in the United States of America. When I say that I’m used to being in places where I don’t look like I belong, I mean it. Looking out of place is one of the most consistent parts of my life.
But it’s different in a synagogue. There’s something about feeling like an outsider in the place where you grew up that stings. Like family members who no longer recognize you.
Leah Donnella, “Black, Jewish And Avoiding The Synagogue On Yom Kippur,” Code Switch: Race And Identity, Remixed (National Public Radio), October 12, 2016. http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2016/10/12/496868502/black-jewish-and-avoiding-the-synagogue-on-yom-kippur
Tags: Code Switch, Leah Donnella, National Public Radio, NPR