Dig a Little Deeper

Are you a White person staying out of race conversations because you think you have no relevant experiences to share?

Interesting choice.

What about that school friend you played with in first grade but never invited him to your house because he was Black?

And that friend of your mom's who said she liked her neighborhood because no Black people lived there?

And that high school basketball game when your best friend got beat up by a Black kid for wearing the wrong colored jacket?

And did you forget your freshman year in college when you told a room full of Asian American women you thought Filipino women were hot?

Oh, and that time on the 19 Polk bus when you were surprised to have an intellectual conversation with a Black man?

And when you were out of town for a wedding and the bartender learned where you were from and said, "Aren't you the wrong color to be from Oakland?"

Wait, those aren't your stories about race. Those are my stories about race.

Just the ones off the top of my head.

The ones I've explored and reflected upon and learned from and told in more detail elsewhere.

The stories I use to enter conversations. To show vulnerability and self-awareness and humility.

You have stories about race too. You just need to dig a little deeper to find them.