I shouldn’t have to explain this to anyone but I will. The black experience is uniquely different from our white counter parts. We have 400 years of being treated as less than human. I’m not saying that there aren’t white people who have had it hard. I know that there are. However being black was not a part of that equation.

We see America differently because our experiences have always been tainted by the specter of race. We get accused of seeing everything through the spectrum of race. We are never allowed to forget. The slights are a daily occurrence and like a wound that never has a chance to heal. The memories never heal.

I the early 80’s I was promoted to a position in Cincinnati, Ohio. People call Cincinnati a conservative town. What they really mean is something else. There’s a bridge that seperates Cincinnati from Covington Kentucky. I had a young woman who worked for me. She was responsible for handling a client we had in Kentucky. One day I was traveling with her. We were going into Kentucky and she was extremely nervous. She told me that she needed to tell the client that I was a trainee that she was breaking in. I wasn’t happy about that but I agreed to go along with it.

When we got to the clients location she introduced me as her trainee. The white gentleman we were meeting with gave me the once over. He then proceeded to tell me how lucky I was to get a job at such a big company as Xerox. He went on to tell me that Xerox was taking a big chance putting a black man in such a position. I never lost my composure but I was seething inside.

When we got back in the car headed back to Cincinnati I was disgusted with myself for having gone along with the charade. Almost 40 years later I still carry that baggage with me. I’m not the exception all of us have been in circumstances like that on more than one occasion. So when a white person told me that everything isn’t always about black and white it’s because they’ve never had to pay a price for being black. Being able to see clearly is a precursor to surviving in a world where your humanity is constantly questioned.

Pay Attention!!!
Think!!
Eyes Wide 👀 👁 Open!!!

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