Back in 2000, I moved to rural Louisiana to teach in a school district that was struggling to recruit teachers. On one of my first days there, I went to get my hair cut on the main street.

As I sat in the chair, I started gushing about how excited I was to be in Franklin, Louisiana. The white hair stylist said, “Yeah, Franklin used to be a good town until all the Black people moved in.”

Having lived in more progressive cities growing up, I was shocked by her blatant display of bigotry and racism, and I was horrified that … Read More