Tara
Newport News, VA
Despite my personal cynicism and ongoing interest in matters of race, I am still surprised at the pervasiveness of anti-black sentiment following the election of President Obama and the Zimmerman verdict, among other things. Frustrations seem to be boiling over, and feelings that used to be secret are being quietly confessed or sometimes shouted out loud: Black people are criminals, untrustworthy, violent by nature, emotional, unable to reason/apply common sense, less intelligent, and unfairly obsessed with race. In fact, WE are the only true racists left in America because we talk about race. The willful blindness toward white privilege and the level of anger and resentment toward black people is truly surprising to me. The fervor sometimes makes me fear for my personal safety. In my lifetime, I’ve never witnessed anything like this.
