“Help me understand why you can’t walk away,” she asks. Dasani is tired of this question. She grew up on the streets. Her instinct is to protect herself. She has explained this to Tara many times. “If someone walked up to your daughter and punched your daughter in the face,” Dasani says, “what you gonna tell your daughter to do?” “Tell the teacher,” Tara replies. “See, I’m not like that,” Dasani says. “I’m gonna hit her back.” She knows that she sounds like her mother right now. But when it comes to fighting, Dasani trusts her mother: To protect yourself, Chanel says, is to protect your
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