For over a decade, a cynical, destructive, dangerous and—let’s see, is there another good adjective? Yes!— unethical strategy has been pursued to strip away all trust between the races, to use racial guilt for profit and power, to make black Americans fear and hate white Americans and to cause white Americans to resent their blacks neighbors. This is, disgracefully, a deliberate choice by elements in our society and politics in order to achieve power. It is an existential threat to the United States, our society and our culture, and has never been more so than now.
I was running an errand for Grace to the local 7-11. As I got out of my car, wearing a black #*&!@#!! mask, my path intersected with that of another man on the way to the convenience store. All I could see were his eyes and his skin-color (he was African-American), and the rest was attire: a New York Yankees cap and a Yankees team jacket. I was one up on him: I was wearing my Red Sox cap, a Boston team jacked AND my Red Sox canvas deck shoes.
The stranger, who appeared to be around my age, froze dramatically as we came face to face about ten feet apart, extended his arms, and exclaimed, “What is this, a beer ad?” and laughed. I replied, “I think it has to be!,” and he followed me into the store. We stopped a few feet inside the door, and talked for 20 minutes about baseball, our teams, various players, baseball ethics (steroids and cheating), and life. He was such a friendly, smart and funny guy; I loved talking with him. Then he gave me a fist bump, and we parted. I never even got his name.
There was nothing in our interaction that day that involved race or anything else contentious. We were just two human beings and citizens of the United States who have a lot more in common and a lot more to talk about together than group identities and conflict. The encounter reminded me that the bonds that unite us as a nation are still stronger and more resilient than the enemies of democracy think they are.
And as I got back into my car, the most famous quote from Anne Frank’s diary suddenly popped into my head: “In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.” Not all people, certainly, but just maybe enough of them.
There is hope.
Ethics Alarms 
Jack,
I have two things to say about your encouraging encounter…
and
Thanks for sharing.
Steve
This is the way human interactions – at least in my world – always were until the woke started telling us that to NOT notice color at the outset was racist. Silly me – I noticed camaraderie, shared interests or experiences, politeness, etc. which often became the sparks for long-lasting friendships. Now, I’m conditioned to walk on eggs around POC for fear of offending them. I’m angry because what came naturally in meeting others for the first time is now framed in an unnatural world of black and white by the media and certain organizations.
CBP wrote, “This is the way human interactions – at least in my world – always were until the woke started telling us that to NOT notice color at the outset was racist.”
The dreams that Martin Luther King Jr. talked about in his prophetic August 1963 dream speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC have been bastardized in the 21st century by ignorant and racist social justice warriors.
Bastardize: to change (something) in such a way as to lower its quality or value, typically by adding new elements.
On line is no way to go through life, son.
I would bet that the average educated Black believes that “systematic racism ” and other related bogus concepts are bullshit. That is, unless they’ve be thoroughly indoctrinated at some high faluting university and swallowed the narrative of white privilege hook, line and sinker.
I bet your average black person thinks systemic racism is baloney, Wayne.
Baloney or bullshit, it’s all the same thing.
To her dismay, Michelle Obama discovered that Ivy League graduates who are Africans American did not consider race as a determining factor in their later business or professional success. That is according to the small number of respondents to her thesis questionnaire.
jvb