Perspective

About 10 years ago I started working with inner city kids in an afterschool program. I learned a lot from working there. It was hard but sometimes I miss it. The first year I was with the program we were decorating for July 4th-making flags- and talking about the holiday. Then a little girl, Diane (7 years old) asked me a question that hit me over the head like a ton of bricks and changed my perspective. As she sat coloring a picture of an American flag she looked at me and said, "Ms. Amy didn't white people own black people then?". She reminded me that the freedom we were celebrating wasn't offered to all.