My black friends, of whom I have many, will under­stand this dia­tribe. Oppor­tunis­tic whites will use this to deflect their short­com­ings towards my char­ac­ter in hopes of min­i­miz­ing their fail­ings. Disin­gen­u­ous blacks will seize my words to fur­ther per­pet­u­ate more hate and divi­sive­ness. If you are a hate­ful, narrow-minded bigot then that is your mis­ery. If you are a sanc­ti­mo­nious oppor­tunist look­ing for a whine fac­tor then that is your prob­lem. For the ratio­nal and rea­son­able who rec­og­nize the world, and peo­ple, for what they are and refuse to be iden­ti­fied by the hate­ful, igno­rant words of oth­ers, then I say wel­come! Remem­ber the word “nig­ger” for what it is. A symp­tom, a dis­ease, a defect, and iden­ti­fier of hate and igno­rance. We can’t hide from the ugli­ness in the world, but we can real­ize it for what it is and choose not to par­take in its dehu­man­iz­ing effects. Read on… →