You probably won't believe me when I say this, but I sincerely am tired of living in a society where this happens:

A house is robbed in a mostly white, but still somewhat mixed neighborhood.

I am walking down the street wearing a hoody (it's a little chilly).

Cops are around, and they ask me if I've seen anything suspicious.

I say no. They tell me to have a nice day.

Behind me is a Black dude. Same build as me. Wearing a hoody. He's cuffed and thrown to the ground, and told, "You look suspicious."

I don't want to live in a society where Black men have to put their hands on top of a steering wheel when pulled over, unless I have to, too.

And here's the thing. If I did do that, to make a point, the cop who pulls me over will tell me to chill. "It's okay," he'll say. "It's just that you were going a little over the limit."

The real messed up thing about that is that the above would still happen if it is a Black cop pulling me over.

As a white man I have no right to tell Black people to vote, or how to vote, or how to engage in any way. One of my favorite t-shirts I saw as a young man in Chicago was when I saw a Black guy wearing one that said in big bold letters, "It's a Black Thang. You wouldn't understand."

I've tried to abide in that ever since. I'm sure I've been less than perfect in doing so.

I grew up in a racist household. I do still have my prejudices that try to rear up from time to time. I bet I don't even notice a lot of them, still, after all I supposedly know about the state of racism in America.

But I will say that white people have a moral obligation to vote against Trump.

Yeah, Obama wasn't perfect. When I voted for him I knew that if you parachuted him into the 1970s he'd have been a moderate Republican in those days. I knew that going in, and it is still true.

And I'm probably left of Bernie. I voted for Obama anyway, and might have if he had run against someone more left leaning.

He broke an important barrier. Now, when an African American more firmly rooted in the slave experience runs for office, it isn't as much of a thing.

Although, that being said, I wonder how many people in my peer group voted for Andrew Gillum in Florida, or Stacey Abrams in Georgia. I'm thinking not many.

That's one piece that needs to change. It's up to white people to shout down racists. It's up to them to vote for Blacks, too, and take an affirmative action approach towards political office.

I don't mean this from a white savior standpoint. I just think it needs to be part of the overall change regime. I would have loved to see what those two candidates could have done in office. I bet they would have both been outstanding, even under the obvious constraints of our system.

I don't understand exactly what people in my peer group are so afraid of. It seems to me that when Black folks are given a chance to succeed, when barriers are removed or when they knock them down, they simply do just that. Maybe that's what scares some white people. I really don't know.

I always got the sense from my parents that they were AFRAID of Black people. I never got a good answer why. They're long gone now, so I can't ask them anymore. I gave up trying, anyway, long before they passed.

I do believe a lot in the intelligence, beauty, and culture of Black folks, and if that is not appropriate to say, well, I don't know how else to say it.

So I think the old mantra of "We (we being you) shall overcome" can never die, because the truth in who you are as a culture cannot die.

My apologies for such a long comment in your space.