The Inclusive Organization

3Franchising the Framework

There are moments throughout our lives that we will one day look back on and say, “That was a moment that changed the course of my life.” Sometimes we recognize it exactly as it's happening, and sometimes it takes us years to recognize. Either way, we depart from that moment utterly changed and facing a new north.

I had such a moment when I was in middle school. Growing up as the daughter of Liberian immigrants in suburban Rhode Island, it wasn't so much of an assumption as a fact that there weren't too many families around town that looked like mine. My hometown was a reasonably affluent and predominately white town. I loved my childhood, riding my bike down tree‐lined streets with my best friend and exchanging family meals, swapping my mom's Liberian pepper soup with her mom's shepherd's pie.

But in tandem with these fond memories, I also had some trying ones. In eighth grade toward the end of a long school day while I was waiting to hop on the bus and head home, a little white boy singled me out in a sea of kids and said, “I heard that your family is from Africa. Let's see how far and fast you can climb up this tree.” I was shocked. I'd never been spoken to like that directly, and I didn't know how to respond. My classmates stood around me, some of them snickering. It felt like they were jeering at me, waiting to see what I would do. Rage, anger, and fear bubbled up inside me, and all I wanted to do was shove that little white boy to the ground ...