Dear Racism

Dear Racism,

I hate you because I can't have an open dialogue about you with my black friends without them throwing up the you-could-never-possibly-know-what-I'm-going-through-because-
you're-a-stupid-white-boy defense.

I resent you because as a white person I can't speak my mind on the issue without inevitably sounding racist or insensitive.

I know that I will never know what it is like to be discriminated against due to the color of my skin, to have a visual cue that points me out to all those around me and marks me as Other.

I have never equated the prejudice that gay men receive with the racism that black, asian, latino, and other groups endure every day.

I acknowledge that people of color will have to work twice as hard to get half as far as I do.

I don't see racism in every situation and perhaps its because I'm white that I never will.

I can't see how racism will ever be overcome without people opening their minds, laying down their defenses, and actively engaging these issues in an open discourse without some strange sense of entitlement.

I believe the human experience is universal, that we can all benefit from each others experiences and that we all have the capacity to emphathize and understand one another if we choose to and if we chose to let others understand us. It is through this process, not through cordoning off the human experience because you're black and I'm white or you're straight and I'm gay, that the ignorance at the very root of hatred and prejudice and racism can be eliminated.

But I'm just a white boy so what do I really know anyway...

Hate Always,

StuckingFupid