Antonia Okafor ― If Rand Paul were president, I might still have a father

 Antonia is a graduate student at The University of Texas at Dallas and a Republican precinct chair in Denton County, Texas. Follow her on Twitter @antonia_okafor

Antonia Okafor (RL Wright Photography) 

(Rare Magazine)

When I was seven, my father was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He sold drugs and got caught after years of being investigated by the FBI (One count of possession of heroin, one count of conspiracy to distribute).

My mother was indicted as an accessory. For a year, in 1997, she was also in federal prison.
For that year, I had no parents. In the years after, I had no father.

I didn’t realize for a long time just how much growing up without a dad affected me.
When I entered my twenties it hit me like a ton of bricks. Until then, I had focused on other things, appreciating what I had overcome from having a less than perfect childhood.

But I eventually began to realize the heartache of growing up fatherless. It tore my family apart. It seeped like poison into every aspect of my life.

Read more at http://rare.us/story/if-rand-paul-were-president-i-might-still-have-a-father/#CYaRg5woiTXC8sef.99