You know, when I was a young Air Force officer in the 1980s, I was explicitly taught to use names and titles in what is today considered to be an old-fashioned practice of emphasizing social status.

For example, as an officer, I was encouraged to introduce enlisted people by their full names and titles, and to use their titles in formal situations, but to otherwise use their first names.

"Guys, Airman First Class Jones is joining us today. Ernie just got here from the States, and I hope you all make him feel warmly welcome. Ernie, this is Airman Smith, Charlie when he's on my good side. I've asked Charlie to show you around the base today and tag along with you for the next couple days until you're comfortable here."

And then in all but formal settings, I would greet Charlie and Ernie with a smile and their first names. They, however, were expected to address me as Sir, Lieutenant, Lieutenant Finn, or in informal social situations as L.T. Using my first name would have been a serious taboo.

This reflected the broader social practice of superiors addressing subordinates by their first names, with reciprocation being strictly prohibited.

Seeing that custom extended to white children calling Black people by their first names, well ... it makes the white supremacy principle really stand out.

I'm not saying that to judge you. I never called Ernie and Charlie by their rank and last name unless I had to. I thought using their first names made me friendly and cool, and they probably did too, at least most of the time.

When the military started to minimize the artificial social distinctions between officers and enlisted people a couple decades ago, they did so because they recognized that old customs can be unintentionally harmful.

And just because everybody does things a certain way, well ... Sometimes it's important to question customs.