The Courage of Children: Boston and Beyond XXX

Trace McFarland
Mandy Lam & Thu-Hang Tran-Peou, Teachers
Josiah Quincy Upper School
Courage is doing something even if you may or may not know the consequences.
My mom always talks about white privilege and how Black lives matter. I would
hear people say Black Lives Matter and I would see the signs. We talked about
it during debate class, but I never really understood what my mom meant or
what my teachers meant until one day at the street hockey rink.
My family consists of my mom, my dad and my three brothers. One of my
younger brothers, Addis, is adopted from Ethiopia. He has brown skin. He was
adopted when I was two years old. As long as I can remember, I have always
had a brother with brown skin, so I never thought about skin color very much.
One day, my older brother, James, and my brother, Addis, and I were at the
street hockey rink. There were other kids there playing, and they started to
call Addis names and said that James and I could play, but Addis couldn’t play
with them. They were calling him the N word and saying he couldn’t play and
that he should go back to where he came from. I was very scared and felt very
sad for Addis because of what they were saying. I didn’t know what to do or
what to say. But suddenly, something was telling me to stand up.
I had the courage to stand up for my little brother even though the kids
making fun of him were way older than me and my other brothers, and I was
very scared. I told the older kids that it was not nice to call anyone names
because of the way that they look, and how they should never ever treat
anyone like that. I spoke up not knowing the consequences of what could
happen, but I did it for my brother and for what is right.
Even though I stood up for him, we still couldn’t play. But at the end of the
day I realized you can’t change someone’s actions, but you can change their
thoughts. When we got home, I was crying so much and told my mom what
happened. I told her that I felt so much better when I stood up for him and
showed courage. I was sad that the boys at the street hockey rink said such
mean things to Addis just because of the color of his skin. I was sad for Addis.
I was also sad that even though I showed courage and I spoke up, we still
didn’t get to play. But I realized that if I didn’t speak up for him, they might
have been even more mean and they might have tried to hurt him. I was
proud of myself.
The Courage of Children: Boston and Beyond
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