All My Race Biases Shattered the Night Malcolm X’s Widow Wished Me “Happy Birthday!”
My night hanging with the Black Panthers and a life-altering moment with Dr. Betty Shabazz
I often tell people that we don’t know if we live in a desensitized culture until a moment of desensitizing can occur. When we are pushed, what comes out of us determines our real state, no matter what we’ve previously claimed.
In the same vein, it’s often hard to recognize if you hold race biases, until you come to a moment where bias can occur.
There was a day in my life that led me to experience race apprehension.
But it ended instantly when Malcolm X’s widow, Dr. Betty Shabazz, looked over at me and, with a bright smile, said “Happy Birthday!”
Let me set the scene.
It was near the beginning of 1995. I was a cocky S.O.B. back then, growing up in the peaceful suburbs of San Jose, California. My life at the time was “straight rollin,” a term we coined to mean that everything in life was going well. I didn’t have many struggles, and had few biases… or so I thought.
I was a fairly tan, but racially white, man in my twenties who really didn’t focus on color, race, or preferences. But I wasn’t prepared for…
