As I went on, my revelations turned grave. “I saw Rosetta being whipped one time,” I told her. “I was four. That was when the trouble with my speech began.” “It seems like you’re talking all right now.” “It comes and goes.” “Was Rosetta hurt bad?” “I think it was very bad.” “What’d she do wrong?” “I don’t know. I didn’t ask—I couldn’t speak afterward, not for weeks.”
First sight of slave beating traumatic
