Sitting here listening to the southern drawl of my friend's mother truly reminds me of the many places from which I come. Life started a bit bumpy for me. At five I went to live with my father for the first time. I wondered, "Who is this strange man? I don't remember him." He took me in and we were best friends right away.

Most of my family is in the eastern and southern United States. My father is from Cincinnati Ohio, and his mother is from Stone Mountain, GA. This is where my Cherokee and Blackfoot roots start. I also have European-Americans on my mother's side.

After moving in with my father, I found out that I had an older brother! He was in charge of breakfast and made yummie stacks of pancakes. He is eleven years older than I am and would sometimes make me eat cold cereal instead of pancakes. Yuck!

After a few years my dad and I moved to Ingleside, CA (my brother had moved out on his own). I really liked all the new people of Ingleside. I got along with almost everybody. But, one time while playing baseball a kid got angry with me for striking him out and yelled a really awful word at me. It was because of the color of my skin that he used that word. It really hurt, but my dad told me, "Don't worry. That word doesn't mean anything if you don't let it." I have tried to live by those words ever since and have been happier because of it.

When I went to college at University of Southern California, I had the great chance to go to Korea. There were some bad feelings at that time between African Americans and Korean Americans. So, the plan was to show young African Americans what Korea was really like. It sure opened my eyes to a different way of life. I am very grateful for that trip. It showed me that I need to meet people and talk to them before making a decision about liking them or not. And it turned out that I really liked Korea and the people there!

Kevin

Please email me at: kevin1@ustrek.org