Almost robbed of life changing relationships

Five years ago I could not have imagined how many deep and meaningful relationships I would ultimately have with Black people.  That sentence alone makes me sad on so many levels and frankly sounds absurd and ignorant.  But that is the reality of the social construct of race, the relative segregation that I have always lived in, and the almost completely unspoken understanding that the separation somehow made sense (or wasn’t worth challenging). Despite an undergraduate and graduate degree (the latter in law), I was almost completely unaware of the laws and policies that shaped that separation and served to manufacture difference in countless ways. That manufactured difference weighed in my favor because of the color of my skin and worked against those with different color of skin, some of whom would become my friends. There is a great deal of talk about the value of diversity. I strongly agree and love meeting people with different backgrounds and different lived experiences.  But what I also love, is finding deep connection and sameness with those society taught me were different from me, so different, true relationship really wasn’t worth exploring.  If I continued on that path of separation, I would have missed out on relationships I was divinely meant to have.  I would have suffered that loss; a meaningful opportunity to grow; and the chance to influence those I love to see life through a different lens toward building a better future.