No one really wants to admit that they discriminate or have prejudices. I still hate admitting what I am about to tell you. The fact that I fear this group of people and go out of my way to avoid engaging with them makes me sick. I have justified my discrimination as discernment for many years. Until recently.

I was turning toward home when I realized I needed a few things at the store. I picked up some fruit, dishwashing soap, and a loaf of bread. I was heading to checkout when I saw her. My new neighbor walking directly towards me. I knew it was her because she was wearing the same clothing I had seen her in only a few minutes before. This was the do or die moment. I knew God was calling me out to PRACTICE WHAT I PREACHED!

I waited outside in a dingy hallway of a casting agent’s office somewhere on the lower west side. The lighting was dull fluorescent and it smelled like a mixture of old shoes and a hundred years of dust. I sat with other wannabe actors. All of us nobodies just trying to get a break. I don’t remember anything about them other than I wasn’t alone.