All of my posts are inspired by something, sometimes it is passion, sometimes it is money.  There is always an inspiration though, and today the inspiration is a Facebook post.

Normally I would just shake it off, but it is the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I let the man child stay home from school, I am knee deep in celery and onions and I needed a distraction.

This is a segment of the post:

“I implore all you who are sharing FB posts that further the racial divide to stop. I beg you parents to NOT send your children into the world with a chip on their shoulders, thinking the world is out to get them because of their skin color. If you do so, you are part of the problem. As for me? I’d rather be part of the solution.”

It sounds quite noble, and for me I know that the heart of this woman is precisely what she says it is, and that these words reflect her desire.  She and I are about 180 degrees apart politically, but I would never call her a racist, and I do truly and honestly believe that she is one of those people out here who do not see color.  I believe that she teaches her children the value of humanity, not the importance of melanin.

I also think that it is painfully naive.

In the United States the most important color is green, the color of our money.  What comes after is a little tricky, but I will try to explain.

There is a racial divide in this nation, and the divide does beyond Black and White.

The divide exists, and the election of President Obama in many ways brought that divide to the surface, after it was buried for decades.

There is a privilege to being White.  No you need not be proud, nor apologetic, but to deny the advantages is dishonest.  There is absolutely such a thing as White privilege, and when White people tell me it does not exist, it reminds me that it is so weaved into our society that to so many it is invisible.

To tell people who are not White, to stop pointing out how we are treated by some who are White, and by society in general, is the problem.

It’s like telling the ant that just got stepped on by the boot to love the boot and get over that broken back thing.

No.

There is a culture out there, in our United States of America, that rewards lack of melanin, and to tell those of us who are affected by that culture that to make the behavior public, to chastise it, and to condemn it is part of the problem.

No.

Some of us are not articulate in how we convey this message, including myself.   I often choose the fastest, simplest words to convey my frustration and anger at being penalized for being Black.  The fastest and simplest words don’t tell the whole story.

Are all Whites who chose to vote for someone other than Barack Obama for President a racist?  Nope.

I will say though that Donald Trump is.  I will encourage you to bring this to his attention, and I will happily defend any libel suit his lawyers throw in my direction.

I will say that John Sununu is not, while I say that Sean Hannity is not, rather they are opportunists.

There are subtle differences, in a world that frankly is not so subtle.

It is simple to say let’s love one another, while you are not on the receiving end of the hatred and discrimination that is real – that exists – and that pulses in the veins of America.

She asks that we stop vilifying White men.  I won’t say that I have a natural hatred for White men, I will say though that experience has taught that White men are oppressive, and that being anything other than a White man in America has inherent disadvantages.

She encourages us to learn from history, while ignoring the history that White men have oppressed women and people of color for as long as we’ve known White men exist.  That White men right now cling to power and assault those who would wrest it from their hands. That White men promote and support other White men to the detriment of others.

She encourages us to live the fantasy world as created in the book : No Red Monsters Allowed.

That is not reality though, and it will not be for quite some time.

She speaks about how the she is afraid that White men seem to be the enemy right now.  To that I say it is simply a glimpse into the process, the life, the reality those of us who are not White have been living for centuries.

For the very first time since small pox and the 13 colonies White men are feeling uncomfortable, they are feeling the pressure, they are feeling persecuted.

I do not find it pleasant that suddenly (well not so suddenly), the scales have tipped slightly.  I simply find it ironic, and perhaps necessary.

Until you feel the heat from the flame, you do not necessarily realize that fire burns.

Until you feel persecuted, you do not understand how harmful that is.

This lesson needs to be learned, so that in the future it can be corrected.

I do not wish it on anyone, but I understand why it is happening, and is perhaps necessary better than someone who has never felt the sting and the pain of being the one not in power.

White men might not be the enemy, but White Privilege absolutely is, and this moment in time is a teaching moment…the lesson is beyond No Red Monsters Allowed.