The elephant in the room is that most white people grow up being taught, literally taught, that Black people are dangerous.

My mom told me before my first high school class to be careful because I'd get beat up by __insert invective here___.

Almost all white people, especially those my age, were taught that.

That seems to me as big a crime as slavery itself.

Imagine my mom's reaction when I befriended a Black dude and brought him home. Well, here's the weird thing. She was hospitable, and brought us snacks. God, we white people are weird, aren't we?

My personal, unproven theory is that this kind of thinking goes back to slavery itself. Who was best able to survive slavery? People who were smarter and stronger than white folks. Yikes. Scary!

So whites came up with all kinds of crappy defense mechanisms, all of them unnecessary.

I easily overcame the lie my mom told me, but I still have a lot of shitty tapes playing in my head. The stuff I heard growing up... SMH.

It's every white person's responsibility to erase those tapes, even if we don't act on them.

I live in midtown Atlanta these days and I can say unequivocally that I do not get judged by Black folks for my demographic. I'm an older white guy and if Blacks were like whites, I'd be getting glared at with angry looks. The opposite happens. Maybe because I look folks in the eye. It's my natural reaction towards everyone, not a conscious effort. I love the eyes! They contain so much information. But that wouldn't matter if the tables were turned and I was a Black man in a white neighborhood. I don't think I need to say what my experience would be in that case. And that sucks.

If white people would simply stop making judgements based on melanin, the world would be a much better place.

I do like your optimism. We are seeing more and more Black authors getting published, and Black movie/tv directors and writers. And actors.

This helps build empathy to those who have not found it yet.

Thanks for a great article.