
Reflections from a Token Black Friend - pwim
https://medium.com/@rnagarajah2/reflections-from-a-token-black-friend-2f1ea522d42d
======
jonnypotty
Found this really interesting thank you. As a white dude who grew up in rural
UK I had very limited contact with anyone who wasn't white growing up and its
not really changed too much as I've grown up and joined the world.

One of the problems people like me have is that the entire 'issue' is
disconnected from our reality. The only context I have is the history I've
learnt and the things I read now. The media I consume essentially. My
subconscious has a load of shit programmed in to do with the idea of a black
person or black people. I don't understand all of it but I _know_ I have
prejudice that I don't want. What I do have is a desparate desire to always
treat people equally and a lot of fear that I will get something wrong.

Unfortunately it's an order of magnitude easier to 'post something' than it is
to change the way you react to people. To be vigilant of your own mind, to be
constantly aware and sensitive to what's going on around you. To accept that
you have predudice and you need to work in order to mitigate it. To accept you
probably will do or say the wrong thing, to be OK with this and accept that
you may need to change. It's hard. We can shout and post and demonstrate as
much as we want but this is about other people, not ourselves. Will anything
change after this? I fear not because we want other people to change, not
ourselves.

------
jjeaff
This was really good and enlightening. Things like this should be required
reading in schools across America. Along with a complete revamping of American
History to hammer in the reality of what happened.

