Rebecca, how could you know. Since my awakening in 2020, I have been grappling with how not to live my life seeing everyone as racist until they prove they are not.

The issue is that we all have racial stereotypes but as Black people, society automatically places us on the bottom rung of the systems that sustain racism. To avoid being in situations with racist people would mean that we would need to remove ourselves from society entirely and that’s not feasible.


Your response to the situation you found yourself in was correct. Could you have done more? We can always do more, but what you did was enough for that situation. It’s draining and exhausting to constantly confront racism when we encounter it, so we need to pick our battles. We do also need to set and example for our children too so they learn how to deal with these situations.

Just as racism is learnt from bad examples like the people you were with, antiracism can be learnt from good examples like yours.

I look forward to continuing the fight with you in 2023.