I Don’t Discuss Racism With White People

By John Metta in The Huffington Post – I don’t talk about race with White people. To illustrate why, I’ll tell a story: It was probably about 15 years ago when a conversation took place between my aunt, who is White and lives in New York State, and my sister, who is Black and lives in North Carolina. This conversation can be distilled to a single sentence, said by my Black sister: “The only difference between people in The North and people in The South is that down here, at least people are honest about being racist.” There was a lot more to that conversation, obviously, but I suggest that it can be distilled into that one sentence because it has been, by my White aunt. Over a decade later, this sentence is still what she talks about. It has become the single most important aspect of my aunt’s relationship with my Black family. -more-