Kathleen Cross*

Her mother is white and her father is Black.  Kathleen's skin and features look white, but she has spent her entire life in the Black community, much of that time working for issues that are of primary importance to Black Americans.  Her parents both gave her a strong sense of identity.  But she has felt the need to become a strong voice for Black people as well as for those who face the discrimination and pain she has experienced.

Working with biracial children has become an important job for Kathleen.  She helps to fortify their self-esteem, heal their wounds, toughen them up, and educate them.  "When I talk to biracial kids, I tell them they have a responsibility.  It's not fair, but it's the truth.  They have the responsibility to understand what they represent, and I say that from my own experience. "Is it fair for me to resent someone who resents me for looking white, when I know why they feel that way?  I don't take it personally, or a least I try not to.

For a woman who is not immediately recognized by her own people, who has faced the daily arrows of sharp words and malevolent looks, Kathleen Cross loves her people and her heritage very much.  She has made an effort to further the interests of those who sometimes push her away as a half-breed or "not really Black."  No matter what anyone else says, she knows who she is.

"There's a statement,"  continues Kathleen, "that comes from the Baha'i writings that says, 'Black people are like the pupil of the eye, which is surrounded by white.  But it is the pupil which contains the vision...'"

* This is not the complete essay.  The above is excerpted from an essay featured in Our Common Ground by Bruce Caines.

To read the essays in their entirety, order Our Common Ground online or purchase it through your local bookseller.