Black people in the US are not much different than White people in the US. We are all conditioned to think about the US and White people and Black people in a particular way.
We have a shared insanity.
I travel the Caribbean and Central America a lot. I hear how white folks complain about feeling unsafe and harassed and uncomfortable in the Bahamas, St Thomas, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Belize or Aruba.
I'm black. I blend in. My family blends.
We feel excited and comfortable and at peace in these black countries.
The policemen and firemen and store clerks look like me. They were not conditioned to see a black criminal, affirmative action hire, inner city thug, deadbeat/absentee father and crack seller. They see themselves until they hear my foreign accent.
I was talking to a white couple and they actually asked (no offense intended) if there was any white islands in the Caribbeans.
I thought about it with no offense taken, and told them, Key West.
We are only in the minority in the US.
We have a shared insanity.
I travel the Caribbean and Central America a lot. I hear how white folks complain about feeling unsafe and harassed and uncomfortable in the Bahamas, St Thomas, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Belize or Aruba.
I'm black. I blend in. My family blends.
We feel excited and comfortable and at peace in these black countries.
The policemen and firemen and store clerks look like me. They were not conditioned to see a black criminal, affirmative action hire, inner city thug, deadbeat/absentee father and crack seller. They see themselves until they hear my foreign accent.
I was talking to a white couple and they actually asked (no offense intended) if there was any white islands in the Caribbeans.
I thought about it with no offense taken, and told them, Key West.
We are only in the minority in the US.