From a white woman who, when confronted by my own tacit and implicit racism, shuddered in a new cold reality; I realized the word ‘color-blind’ I had claimed, and wore as a cloak of comfort, brought no protection from the chill of socialization, internalized racial superiority, and systemic racism in America, of which I had been complicit. My cloak is off now, and I walk unashamedly naked before my people. Many don’t like what they see- and even less what they hear. The ugly truth brings discomfort to some, but only because it inconveniences them. But I am no longer cold.