Tricia,

Being white, I'm not really in a position to speak for black folks. The best I can do is try to imagine what it would be like to be black. I can also remember the way I've seen a lot of white people react to blacks when they see them on the street or in other situations.

With all due respect to your experience (and in no way do I mean to downplay it), I think it's safe to say that if you look white (since you're 15/16ths white you are pretty much white), you probably can't speak to the black experience either. It seems to me that anyone who looked down on you was probably being more classist than racist. Of course, what was done to American Indians is another horrible scar on our country's history but you said yourself that you look white.

It seems to me that you are missing the point that black people are hard to miss. It's obvious that they look different from whites. The first thing you see about a person is how they look.

I can tell you that even if I don't shave for a few days or shower one morning and go out looking like a grubby slob, no women ever clutch their purses when I walk by (even if they hold their noses [Linked Image]). A black man would generally have to be clean shaven and wearing a suit before that wouldn't happen to him. To me, that says a lot about people's perceptions of blacks and it's based only on skin color.

In the end, you are correct. No one owes anyone a living. But everyone deserves an opportunity to make their own without the deck being purposely stacked against them.

Van

Van Borden
a.k.a. Buzz Grudge