Courtney said to me, I might be white and you are black but I still love you. 

Courtney and I were good friends. I loved and cherished her. We were both based in Ontario, Canada. We attended the same school “the University of Ottawa”. I loved her so much. Our physic looked the same but she is white and I am black. Despite sharing different skin color with her, I loved her very well and she also loved me. But our families did not approve of our friendship. My mum will always remind me that Courtney is white and I am black. While Courtney’s mum will also remind her that she is white. Whenever our parents reminded us of our skin colors, I would always defend and remind my mum that days are gone when racism was still practiced”  Courtney did same. 

My mum will always ask me when we both went out, were we treated equally?  This made me go silent. I knew within me, that Courtney attracted better treatment than I did. But I overlooked all those things. What matters is that I love her. 

I and Courtney continued being good friends. I was smarter than her but she was given preferential treatment. This made me jealous of her. I would always desire to outshine her by letting my success speak for me but she ends up being the one getting all the attention. I got depressed and also hated my skin color. I wish I listened to my mum was all I kept soliloquizing to myself. Maybe, if I listened to her and stayed away from Courtney, I will not be going through this emotional trauma.

I had to come up with an idea on how to get the attention Cortney was getting. I confided in  Courtney and told her how jealous I have been knowing that she got all the attention because she is white. I let her know that I hated my skin color and intends to get a surgery done.

She started apologizing to me. She felt sorry for me. She said to me, you are smart, I wish I was half as smart as you. It is so unfortunate that the system we are in sometimes differentiates our skin colors. But it does not matter anymore. I might be white and you are black but you are smart and I love you. She promised to stand by me and make sure I get to the height I desire in life with no obstructions. 

She ended our discussion by whispering into my ear,  I am white and you are black makes no meaning. I love you and I love your skin color, that is all that matters. Let us go out there, and create that change we desire.  I hugged her, and said to her with tears rolling down my cheeks “We are in this together”