I’m not white, stephanie jo kent, and my experiences moving through this society as a person of color give me little patience when I am condescended to. If I sound a bit short here, that’s why.

You highlight a section of my post in which I refer specifically to the way that I felt Jillian responded (“take a back seat”) and the way that I responded (“positive intentions; carry on”). There are a thousand ways to react to Todd’s post; I was just addressing two of them. Addressing two things and connecting them with the word “or” does not automatically create a binary.

To me, dialogue is…talking. My response was not an attempt to give Jillian an “ouch,” and it’s unfair of you to characterize it as such. I have indulged in my fair share of Internet combat, and I recognize when I’m doing it. In this case, I simply asked Jillian a question (“why, when the onus is on white people, should white person Todd take a back seat?”), stated that I believe we all have a limited worldview, and then shared something from my own experience. Out of respect for Todd’s post and respect for Jillian, it was intentionally not passive-aggressive; it was, in fact, as straightforward as I have ever been.

This, too, is straightforward: you have set down rules of engagement, you have defined the way words should be used, you have handed out reading assignments, you have stated whose turn it is to speak. That is astounding hubris. That is white privilege.