“I know from experience that there are places where that word is still used hatefully.” I scrunch my eyebrows. “What do you mean you know from experience?” “My parents are from a tiny town in East Texas. The backwoods.” He looks down to his hands in his lap. “When we visit, I have to sit through my family’s racism.” He looks back up. “It was particularly bad when Obama was president.” I flick my eyebrows up. “I bet.”
