Karan Samuels of Newville, Penn., identifies as white and Cherokee Indian and is the mother of eight children, whose father is African American:
鈥淓very day, my kids were coming home telling me that kids called them 鈥榮tupid N-word鈥� and harassed them about being biracial. The harassment made them not want to participate in activities that other kids take part in; my kids were afraid.鈥�
鈥⑩�⑩��
Yolanda Abel of Baltimore, Md., a 41-year-old single parent of a 12-year-old African American daughter, Akila:
鈥淎kila came home from school one day and asked me when I鈥檓 going to get married. I told her, jokingly, 鈥業鈥檓 going to marry you.鈥� She looked at me and said, 鈥楪irls can鈥檛 marry each other.鈥濃�� Yolanda took that opportunity to explain that sometimes people fall in love with people who are the same sex 鈥� and about the fact that it鈥檚 OK not to marry.
