I’m not sure we knew what to make of it — when something is almost science fiction gone horribly wrong, or so surreal, you almost don’t know how to react. But my parents picked me up and we went home. And I remember that my dad got my mom, my sister, and myself together in the living room and he turned off all the lights in the house and in a hush, hush tone, he said he was afraid of backlash.