I’m Not Black…

As a species, we are still quite primitive. Groups of people still try to find ways to feel superior over their neighbors. This is mostly driven by their own hangups and insecurities. In reality, there is only one race. We all came from the same, dark skinned mothers less than 800 generations ago. As people moved away from the equator, their skin tone evolved differently. That’s it.

I’m not Black and I can’t pretend to fully understand the strife of African-Americans. However, I was born into a Soviet Jewish family who then chose to escape to the US in large part due to antisemitism.

I was too young to have much first hand experience but my parents had plenty. The reverse of affirmative action: quota limits on how many Jews would be allowed into top universities, management, and government jobs (which were sought-after in those days). In the one kitchen, one bathroom communal apartment we shared with five families, our drunk neighbor broke bottles on our door screaming, “go back to Israel you filthy Jews.” There were also stories of pogroms from my grandparents’ days. And many many other examples.

I’m proud and fortunate to have close friends all over the world. Learning from this wide variety of cultures, experiences, accents, colors, and points of view is very important to me. For this reason, it is difficult for me to understand why many people fight their…