What I’ve Learned About Race Since May 2020
Almost a year later, here are some of the gifts my Black friends have given me
I got a note yesterday from a friend I met on Medium last year. She’s a fellow writer on Illumination, in my estimation one of the best. She and I are late-in-life athletes, we’ve both written multiple books, and at the time we met last year, we were both living in Colorado. She found an article of mine of interest, I found her work profound.
Her friendship has profoundly improved my life this past year.
Little did I know that a year later, after George Floyd’s murder would create a crucible on which that friendship would be forged, this magnificent Black woman would be a friend, a work partner. That friendship would be one of a web of connections on Medium and elsewhere which would be the basis of an education that has been eye-opening, to say the least.
While I can’t possibly list a full appreciation of what I have learned in this article, I wish only to offer a few observations which might allow me to acknowledge what a most difficult but incredible year has done for my ability to see race, racism, colorism and the role of race and racism in very different ways.
