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When I was a child,
I knew I had superpowers.
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That's right.
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I thought I was absolutely amazing
because I could understand
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and relate to the feelings
of brown people, like my grandfather,
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a conservative Muslim guy.
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And also, I could understand
my Afghan mother, my Pakistani father,
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not so religious but
laid-back, fairly liberal.
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And of course, I could understand
and relate to the feelings of white people.
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The white Norwegians of my country.
You know, white, brown, whatever,
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I loved them all. I understood them all,
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even if they didn't always
understand each other,
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they were all my people.
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My father, though,
was always really worried.
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He kept saying that
even with the best education,
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I was not going to get a fair shake.
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I would still face discrimination,
according to him, and that they only way
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to be accepted by white people
would be to become famous.
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Now mind you, he had this conversation
with me when I was seven-years-old.
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So while I'm seven-years-old,
he said, look,
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soo its either got to be sports,
or its got to be music.