As a white man pushing 60, Mia, I feel the truth of what you’re saying. Growing up in a society still rocked by the desegregation movement, I experienced extreme bias against Black people that was often based in very strong emotion. It could be overwhelming.

As a child, I didn’t observe that same deep emotional reaction against Latino people or other brown people. Yes, negative bias absolutely existed, but it was a different animal so to speak. It’s hard to explain.

Maybe as an example, when I was a child, Lucille Ball was married to Desi Arnez, a man of Cuban descent. She even appeared in a sitcom with him as her husband.

Now that show was full of terrible stereotypes, and it often wasn’t complimentary toward Cuban people …

But it’s important to observe that if Lucy had married a Black man, much of society would have recoiled in something like disgust. I believe her career would have ended.

Obviously, things are different and better today, but my point is that for many white Americans, I believe those racist degrees still hide just under the surface of consciousness.

Brown people are much less LESS than Black people.

It’s something we all, as Sherry Kappel explained so well, need to face up to. We white Americans were born into a system of racism that particularly and insidiously denigrates Black people.

Examining ourselves is critical to positive change.