09/28/2026
Storytime: Can I be honest?
I didn't know people, Black girls especially, didn't innately have confidence until someone asked me where I got mine from?
I was 17 - interning for Detroit Revitalization Inc, a Cass Corridor based development firm owned by Black women in the early 2000s. One day one of the White lady investors cornered me in a room full of files, housing records, I was tasked to categorize. I recognized her as frequent visitor but she never introduced herself to me, I'd always say hello when I let her in the building.
On this day she paused and asked me what my work consisted of, what my process considered. There were hundreds of files, deeds, records, all kinds of things. I let her know I created a community, streetname, address, last name system and walked her through the rows of boxes, all clearly marked.
By the end of my mini tour she asked "And who taught you how to do it this way?" I responded logically, "Its kinda how the library does it - I just swapped the Dewey Decimal for the address.", she was blown away - for some reason I thought maybe she hadn't been to a library in a while, shrugged it off and kept working.
When she returned after her meeting with my bosses she asked that eerie question - "Where did you get your confidence from?"
At 17 I thought damn, this poor lady, cant go to the library and is asking a child for advice on confidence?!
LIKE FOR PART 2
