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Thanks for sharing junot. Reminds me, summer 2019 my (all Dominican) band toured Europe, we got pulled over 5 times in 4 weeks. As you point out it's a system. The mosquito ones in Santo Domingo, and the Mark McGuire ones in the US are no better. Saludos!

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Hi Junot. As an afro-latinx woman in Amsterdam, an allegedly very open minded city, I had a similar experience. For the first time in my life, when I entered stores, I was followed. I know they were watching to see if I stole anything. So, one learns this type of racism doesn't just happen in the USA. It's all over the world, it's part of the human condition. In the Dominican Republic, it's the Haitians who are suspect. Is there any country where the "other" is not suspect. It's a sad fact about humanity. It's not just white people who are guilty of it.

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I’m stuck on the moment you chose to grow wings instead of going down to the bottom with Javert.

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“Makes me wanna holler” inner city blues. Actually a modified clave.

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So beautiful. “But it was too late: I was already on my way.”

As Viktor Frankl says, we can’t choose our circumstances, but we can choose how we respond.

Thank you for writing this.

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