Oh. It was *awful* - coming from French school.

I didn't know Brainiac was an insult. I was used to admiring the ones who could get good grades.

I thought black people were human beings. I didn't know talking to them would make the white kids hate me.

Also I spoke French to them so they hated me too, to be fair. All the Africans I'd known were francophone.

I was taunted mercilessly on the playground. No adult ever noticed or intervened.

I was beaten to a pulp after school by groups, unless I cowered in the bathroom long enough, hours and hours. Thhe groups were either all white or all black but the both thought I should go back where I came from.

I didn't know that girls weren't human beings. If I talked to them as if they were, a group of girls would beat me to a pulp. If I talked to the boys, boys would beat me to a pulp.

They would push me off the top of playground equipment, dig their nails into my arms, kick/punch me, chase me all over. The smartest thing I did once was leap over a stone wall and then cower against the far bottom of the wall while I listened to them wondering where I was. I waas sure if they caught me they would kill me for trying to get away. I cowered there till night, 9ish. They had started chasing me at about 2:30.