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James Williams ‘13 confessed Monday that throughout his childhood he’d secretly always wondered if he might be black. “My mom and dad are both black, but I’ve always felt strongly that kids shouldn’t do things just because their parents have done them” Williams said, “Like my friend is premed just because her dad is a doctor. I just want to tell her to be her own person, you know?
Still, Williams reports that he may be following in his parents’ footsteps, “I first knew I might be black when I was watching Chris Rock do a stand up comedy set about the differences between white people and black people. I’ll admit — I laughed at the jokes. They made sense to me in a very real way.” Williams continued, “And I’ve always had a hard time hailing a cab on the streets of my hometown in Western Massachusetts.”
Williams also discussed how his childhood friendships caused him to keep his race secret. “I couldn’t be friends with black kids, or else people would know that I was black too,” frowned Williams, “I regret that I made some racist comments to distance myself from a secret truth that I knew would change the way people saw me forever.”
Williams hinted he might be ready to go public with his secret racial truth, “I just don’t know how much longer I can keep up the not-black façade. It’s hard enough to be a black man in this country without always having to hide it from my loved ones.”
