Category Archives: Race

THIS is exactly what happens. This is how it works. This is how her young daughter’s spirit is affected. This is the sort of constant “micro-aggression” that is so hard to explain because each instance is close to petty. Mention it to many/most decent, reasonable white people and they think, “get a life; ignore the stupid clerk.”

I could tick off 50 similar experiences — usually followed by store personnel; shown to the one table in a restaurant without a candle or flowers (and next to the restrooms); asked for ID as in this case; always having to ask for another hotel room because the first one is next to the elevator and across from the housekeeping closet — nonstop noise. On and on. That’s just the make it through the day stuff.

I love that this is a crystal clear account of how this shit happens below white radar. Such daily encounters are a reason why the vaunted “conversation on race” is all but impossible to hold. Yes, these things happen to everyone from time to time. I’d say the difference is that black people recognize the pattern, know the drill, and keep taking the hit, sometimes protesting, sometimes, not.