This story was shared by an NPS parent/caregiver.
Image ID: the background of image 1 is orange (upper one-third) and purple (lower two-thirds), with a large white square with rounded corners overlaying and within that square, this text in purple: “As a white person who’s lived in the Northampton area for the past 3 years, it’s been frightening how much my brain and self has adapted to (what I experience as) the lack of racial diversity here. I find myself unsure of how to ‘be’ or respond around people of color sometimes. This has felt strange and sad and hard to square, having grown up in Africa and lived in diverse US cities.”
Image 2 has the same orange/purple split background, with the white text “Story Themes” running up the lower left side and two columns of white boxes (four per column) displaying our eight story themes. Here, the themes Educational Challenges, Whiteness, and Emotional Response are emphasized with bright/bold colors and the themes Lack of Understanding, The Future, Race & Identity, Actions & Strategies, and Hurt & Exclusion deemphasized with paler colors.
REAL 