I learned a few new words on my first day at School no. 11: honkie, Oreo, blow job. A honkie was a white person, my mother said, and blow job was a dirty word for something adults did. She didn’t know anything about Oreos, but I soon learned that they were kids with one black parent and one white parent. Honkies could also be called crackers, and someone who was an Oreo only minutes before could safely be referred to as a zebra when the mood struck.
Color was important on Grand Avenue. We all wore shoes fished from discount bins and received free lunch, so what else was there?