No white American can know and understand the degree to which persons of darker skin live by accommodation. Yet, being aware, open to stories relating experiences, talking and sharing with those who tell very different stories from our own is what being human is, or should be, about. We can be empathetic, and sensitive to our insensitivity or ignorance or benign complacency. We can learn to look for, and at, the myriad ways institutional racism persists, and to the extent we have the power, we can stand by those who are dealing with some petty manifestation of that pervasive,automatic bigotry in these ugly but increasingly common, ordinary daily skirmishes. We must demonstrate that we are not all alike. Unless a person is in physical jeopardy, it is not our place to assert authority, one version of white privilege for another, but we can bear witness, and ask what the other person would like us to do. How can we be of service? Don’t make yourself important; make yourself useful.
