Growing up in a predominately white, conservative Chicago suburb (black folks make up a whopping 2.5 percent of the population there) I feel this

I was the gay black artsy kid with ADHD who grew up in the height of the AIDS crisis of the 80s and 90s, was always the only black kid on everything.. Cross Country team, honors English and Spanish, Little League

By high school I had this alien/outside looking in feeling, Id be "too white" for some of the black kids that moved in from the city and for some white kids I'd always be "too black"

and in the late 80s and early 90s, everyone was homophobic

I then went on to be the only black undergrad graphic design student (younger or older) at the U of Illinois from 1996-1999 and I have only worked with one black web/graphic design professional in 22 years