Raised in the early sixties during the midst of the civil rights movement, a young girl--though African American--was brought up in a mixed family. Her mother was African American, and her mother's husband was white. At an already trying time, this family took on the challenge of breaking the race barriers and became a blended family. It was a life of fun--camping, swimming, summer vacationing on the ocean--having two definitely different families. Her mom was a Washingtonian and a Christian, her stepdad was raised as a Mormon.Their differences never stopped them from spending holidays, weekends, and vacations in the Volkswagen together as one--everyone loving one another and knowing no difference in the black-and-white skin tones.Could love conquer the hatred and discourse that was prominent and seething throughout not only this city but also the entire country?Things went well for a while for this family. They actually pushed through some very adverse situations and stuck together as glue. Life was good for all until the deception, the dark secret, and the betrayal of the once-trusted and loved stepparent. Would the family survive this? No, the betrayal and hurt were too much. The family was forced to divide.Her mom and the kids were forced into poverty. The happy black-and-white life was finished, and for the young, now-teenage girl comes a life of teen pregnancy, drugs, prostitution, and crime. How could things that start so good come to this?Resentments and unforgiveness are poison to the soul. It took twenty years of a hard life for this young girl to find joy again, and she found it through the love of Jesus Christ.This story is about a young, happy, and free girl who goes through a living hell because of the deception of one she trusted and loved, turning to drugs and the streets and looking for love in all the wrong places, only having to hit bottom until she looked up to God to restore her.Please join me in the journey in the black and white of it, where we keep it one hundred about what happens in the life of this black girl, raised by blacks and whites lovingly together.

--Debby Young

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