Did you say BLACK? Speak up.

I understand that some people are developmentally slower than others (while biology boasts that no one person is more or less evolved based on evolutionary trends... too slow for us to see- like the turning of the earth on its axis). I always thought I was "more evolved," a lie my mother told me to make me feel better about having been born (though it has since been removed) with an extra thumb.

What I'm really referring to though is when white people tell me stories (in Long Island, where most of these story tellers have not ever experienced diversity, and have no friends of other races). If, in the story, one of their characters is BLACK/black/black they whisper the word when describing that character.

First, they look around to be sure it is only an inside story amongst us white folk, and then the secret is shared in mouthed almost inaudible whispers... Does this character's race matter to the story? Is your punch line derogatory? Am I in on the secret because my skin color makes you believe our shared history is that of homogeny and lack of cultural diversity; incorrectly?


Black is not a bad word.

You don't have to whisper it.

(I shared this story with a friend, since this occurrence has come to pass several times since being in a setting with little to no people with skin colors that differ from my own. She asked if I said something. I hadn't. I, too should speak up.)