The Root’s Clapback Mailbag: ‘Real Racist’ Bingo

Whenever someone asks if writing the weekly Clapback Mailbag ever gets old, I tell them that receiving and reading notes from people telling me why I’m so wrong can sometimes be annoying.

But, to be fair, it’s not the receiving part that bothers me; I rather enjoy responding to our readers. But reading poorly punctuated pleas for me to stop my literary niggering can sometimes get old. So, to combat boredom, I created a game that I will share with you.

Each week, I take all of the emails, DMs, tweets, and comments, divide them into categories based on the usual tropes and play a game to see how far I can get before someone accuses me of being the “real racist.”

Here are the 10 categories:

“Instead of…” Fred: There’s always someone offering a suggestion on how I could fix racism instead of talking about it.

Bobby “Black People Are Violent”: Alternatives include “But what about Chicago?” and “But what about black-on-black crime?”

Mr. “Go Back to Africa”: If I don’t like this country, maybe I should…

The Ally Autobiographer: The people who automatically recount their life story about why they can’t be racist just before they say something racist.

Big, Bad and Mad: These people are just angry. They’ll probably use the n-word.

Not All…: White people.

“Well, Actually” Ashlee: They “respectfully disagree” or “take umbrage.”

“Say-It -To-My-Face” Sam: Wants me to meet him face-to-face or debate him so he can put me in my place.

Steve the Stat Guy: They cherry-pick stats they read on Breitbart or in a meme to show they’re more intelligent.

Ray the Race-Baiter: Contends that I am a race-baiter who spews anti-white rhetoric for money. Or clicks. Or to divide America.

Ok, let’s play:

I interviewed Pete Buttigieg and people had some thoughts, including a #1 , #10, #4 and the first-ever Clapback Mailbag message from LinkedIn:

From: Judith J.To: Michael Harriot

Hi Mr Harriot. Just a thought. We all know Pete Buttigieg doesn’t have it all together when it comes with connecting with people of color. How about you and several folks you pick out get together with Buttigieg and help get him there?

He is open to learning and granted, he has lots to learn. You could be a significant part of making it better for all of us!

From: RobertTo: Michael Harriot

If you want to undermine a presidential candidate blaming him for the privilege you perceive is a cheap shot. I would like to hear how we can grow America for all. There is prejudice within every race focused on it’s own folks.

That’s a real problem

Dear Robert and Judith,

Are you offering me the Senior Negro Advisor position in Pete Buttigieg’s campaign?

I accept.

Now, let’s get down to work: Our first step will be revamping Pete Buttigieg’s entire schedule and barring black people from entering all of his campaign appearances because if Pete Buttigieg truly wants to stand up to white supremacy and institutional racism, he can’t “grow America for all” by “connecting with people of color.” Instead, he has to focus on one group:

White people.

Despite being 60 percent of the population, Congress is 78 percent white, the federal judiciary is 80 percent white, and 81 percent of state legislatures are white. White people control 99 percent of Fortune 500 companies and 100 percent of the 100 largest financial institutions in the U.S.

Black people aren’t the ones underfunding majority-“minority” school districts. Black people aren’t throwing resumes with black-sounding names in the trash cans. Black people aren’t the ones sentencing black prisoners to longer sentences. Black people didn’t create the War on Drugs or mandatory minimums. Black people didn’t create the chattel slave trade, the “black codes,” Jim Crow or redlining. White people did that.

And I know you probably didn’t personally institute slavery, segregation or whiteness. But if white people were as outraged about white supremacy as they were about 2 percent tax increases, losing their Social Security or minuscule changes to their insurance plan, institutional inequality would be front and center at every political debate and politicians would find a way to address the issue and find ways to fix America’s most pressing problem.

White people do this often. Even the benevolent allies think that, instead of complaining, black people should take them by the hand and teach them how not to be racist. They want us to show them the way to equality and freedom as if they don’t quite know how to replicate the system they built, maintained and enjoyed for four centuries.

Instead of figuring out a way to extinguishing the fires of white supremacy built on the kindling built and fueled by their own actions, not only do they want me and a handful of my best negrologists to fight their fire, but they want us to run into the flames so Pete Buttigieg won’t get burned!

I am not your negro.

But thanks for the job offer.

Here are 2 DMs that illustrate a #3, a #5, a #8 and a #10:

From: Showdown BoysTo: Michael Harriot

My man- you are a clown and I would run laps around you in a debate any day. Your theories are fantasy- brainwashed and shoved into your ears by a liberal media. You peddle racism for profit. You cast aspersions on those who should be heroized and vica versa. You are so, so, so lost if your goal destination is anything remotely close to reality

From: GenoTo: Michael Harriot

Iinstead of race-baiting, if you want a candidate to talk to black votess, maybe you should go live in a black country.

Dear Boys and Geno,

I agree with your premise. My expectations are totally unrealistic. I wrongly based my appeal on these facts:

Farmers make up 1.3 percent of the employed population but will receive nearly $1 trillion dollars in federal spending over the next 10 years.

Undocumented immigrants commit less crime, use fewer resources and receive fewer federal benefits than native-born Americans but we spend an inordinate amount of money and time talking about immigration.

White men commit the vast majority of domestic terrorism but politicians focus on Islamic terrorists.

These issues don’t affect the average American in the least, but they are front and center of the political debate because they have one thing in common:

White people care about them.

There are more black people in America than there are farmers, illegal immigrants and terrorists combined, so I’m not asking political candidates for any kind of special attention.

I’m asking them to use common sense.

Sometimes, I’ll write an article that I know people can’t object to, like this one on the criminalization of black girls:

I’m always wrong.

Dear SJEqualizer,

I’d like to understand what you were saying, not because I think you’re smart or anything. It’s because I hear this argument so much. According to the “disproportionate theorists,” all negative reactions to black people are caused by black people being violent, lazy or…niggerish.

They use flawed data to expand this theory to the war on drugs, sentencing, and, apparently, why teachers discipline black girls more often than innocent white kids. For instance, they claim police wouldn’t disproportionately shoot unarmed black people if other black people—not the ones cops shoot—would just stop committing a disproportionate amount of crime. While that may be true, there’s one thing wrong with this theory:

All of it.

White people kill more cops (disproportionately and in real numbers) more than black people. If cops nationwide shot and killed white people according to their population percentage, cops would have killed 580 white people in 2018, 192 more than they already have. If cops killed white people according to the FBI’s total arrest numbers (white people also disproportionately commit more crime, at 69.6 percent), cops would have to kill 264 more white people in 2018.

And those figures still don’t account for the flawed data because those figures are based on the FBI’s arrest numbers, not the number of crimes committed by each race. For example, in 2018, 27 percent of the people arrested for drug abuse violations were black according to FBI data. We know black people use drugs at the same rate as white people. Yet, blacks are arrested at twice the rate as whites for drug abuse violations.

See? I’ve done the math.

But here’s the worst part of it:

I lost the bingo game because Jimerican says I’m the “real racist.”

Finally, here’s an email that contains all the elements of “Real Racist” Bingo. I don’t expect anyone to read this in its entirety because I haven’t.

From: Urge SinisterTo: Michael Harriot

Dear Mr. Harriot,

I can’t for the life of me think why you want Donald Trump re-elected so badly. It’s obvious to me he’s a spokesman for white nationalism and everything you stand against.

Yet, last month, you did more for his campaign than a million David Dukes could ever have dreamed.

Why?

You seem intelligent. You were in the “smart classes” with your friend, Greg. Why is it you’ve never learned to think? Why are you educated but not smart?

You’re railing against a man with whom you fundamentally agree. Worse, this sound and fury has done more to further white nationalism in 24 hours last month than I’ve seen since Trump got elected. Surely an intelligent man such as yourself would be able to read his own articles?

Buttigieg said that there are no positive role models for people in minority, low-income neighborhoods. Well, you not only made that point in your first article, in case any young black man misunderstood, you reiterated it in your second. Let me quote, in case you don’t read your own bullshit, “‘Black kids don’t have confidence in the system’ without pointing out all of the reasons they shouldn’t have confidence in the system.”

Unless I misread your article, you had confidence in the system. Do as I say and not as I do?

Well, way to be a role model. You just struck a mighty blow FOR institutional racism NOT against it.

Why do you assume “minority” + “low income” = “black”? I didn’t assume that. Now, I didn’t watch the whole interview with Buttigieg that you’re criticizing but then, no one else did either. They only played the quote you pulled out. Well, isn’t that the antithesis of what people need to be taught? Shouldn’t we be teaching the world that not ALL minority, low income neighborhoods are black neighborhoods?

Bet that never occurred to you.

You’re more racist than most white people I know. You carry a piece of paper to prove you have a white friend? If a white man did that with a black man, what would Reverand Sharpton say about him on MSNBC?

But in 2020, an election year, the leaders of the Klan will huddle over their laptops and snidely write how much you did to further their cause. I can image the blogs: “But Pete Buttigieg listened, which is all you can ask a white man to do,’ Harriot wrote, blackly.” And they will laugh themselves silly knowing you have just proven that black men and white men are inherently different, which is what white nationalism has been claiming for years. That there can be no meaningful dialogue between the races not because the white man is unwilling to listen but because a black man is so hostile to whites that they need to be put down. Congrats.

And what about the young black men reading your articles? What if you had read your article when you were hopping ditches to get to school? You’re offended that your white friend, who came to pick you up, never noticed you were poor or made a fuss that you’re black. You blithely mention he’s never had a meal with your family as a criticism then admit you don’t that much about him either. Did you ever invite him? Somehow, I doubt it.

Except he went out of his way to help you. You seemed to have missed that part. He gets no credit for seeing you not as a poor, black man but as a friend who needed a ride. Because white people who are “color blind” are just racists who are too stupid to be racist.

Who’s really the racist?

What if, when you were young, you had an article from a black intellectual definitively telling you that the system isn’t going to work. What kind of low income neighborhood did you grow up in that didn’t have drug dealers, black or otherwise? Because I grew up in a poor neighborhood and we sure as shit have them. Are you seriously telling me that a smart, young, black man such as yourself wouldn’t read that you’re going to be disciplined more harshly, come out with more student debt (which is obviously a big fucking deal for white people because all the white democrats like old ass Sanders and Warren are kicking a fuss about it) and then when you get done you’ll have 80 cents on the dollar to pay them off. (White women get 70 cents but I’m sure you haven’t noticed.) Are you seriously so fucking stupid you can’t empathize with those young men doing the math and saying, “If the system isn’t going to work for me, and I’m going to end up in jail anyway, why shouldn’t I fuck it back as hard as I can before they get me?” Is that the message you were trying to send? Because if not, you still did a good fucking job of sending it. Congrats. The Klan raises their glasses to you.

Perhaps you had a class on the 1960s in school? Have you heard of Emmit Till? He was a black boy who was lynched in the south. They cut off his dick and murdered him for talking to a white woman. Now look at that sentence. Really feel that sentence. It hurt me to write it. Can you honestly say you can empathize with him? That you were ever in a circumstance where your life was in jeopardy because you talked to someone who hated you for absolutely nothing that you did and something that you are?

His mother, Mrs. Till, had an open casket and it was filmed. In my white, privileged school, we were required to watch it.

My heart broke.

Do you think Mrs. Till exposed the body of her mangled son to warn black Chicagoans that racism exists? I mean, why was there a march on Selma? What was Dr. King’s stance on racism?

She stood by her son on video in an age when that wasn’t a regular occurrence to show white mothers that what was most important about her son wasn’t that he was black but that he was a boy. Because she knew that no mother could look at that film and not see her own son, regardless of that boy’s color.

Congrats. You just metaphorically opened that casket and pissed on that mangled body.

You, Sir, write from a position of black privilege. Oh, horrors! Did I just write that?

Why, yes, yes I did.

You see, I’m a transsexual man.

If someone fires you for being black, the system you malign in your article will make them pay. If you get denied housing, you have recourse. If your education you got your “black-ass” the “fuck to school” for is meaningless and people won’t hire you because they’re racist, you can take their asses to court and someone will step in for you.

Because you have no empathy for any minority but your own, to explain Buttigieg to you I need to go back to the 1950s. Suppose there was a man in the 1950s who grew up with all the privilege you imagine Buttigieg had. White family, fancy school. Let us then suppose one day, when he’s still young, he learns that in fact he has black ancestry. Well, that makes him black, right? So now that young man has a dilemma. He sees other black men. He yearns for their companionship. But to gain that he will have to sacrifice his white identity and his white privilege. Regardless of choice, he would then live his life in torture either way, knowing that if his white friends only knew they would repudiate him. And where is his role model? As this young man looks around his world and sees water fountains labeled “white” and “negro,” where is his incentive to embrace his heritage? And correct me if I’m wrong, but there was never a time when white people were saying that blacks were so evil that God had created a disease to strike them down.

But that was Buttigieg’s youth. Do you imagine he never knew he was gay until he graduated those fancy schools? He was born in 82, sexuality is set by 3 or so, in 1985 it was the height of the aids epidemic. “Don’t ask, don’t tell” was 1994; Buttigieg was 12. Can you imagine having a secret so taboo, so institutionally accepted as being horrible, that you would be afraid to text it to Greg for fear he would reject you?

That’s what Buttigieg must have felt when he had to make the decision to come out.

So yeah, maybe he never dealt with “low income” but he sure as fuck dealt with “minority.” And unlike you, who wear your skin as a badge of honor, he had to make the decision to embrace the fact that he might never get a job, have a career, or be able to feed his family simply because of how he was the day he popped out of his mother’s womb. He fucking gave up his right to procreate the minute he came out. And to this day, there are LOTS of people who would rather a poor kid starve than live with fag parents. Tell me I’m wrong! Oh, wait, you can’t; because I’m not going to give you my name because I don’t trust you not to lynch me. And what you did to Buttigieg was as much a lynching with your laptop and browser as the old fashioned one with rope and a tree.

Who were Buttigieg’s role models? The drag queens of Stonewall? Why did they start the “gay movement?” Because anyone could tell by looking at them they were gay, and they were beating the fuck out of them every week while your black brothers were getting equality acts passed. Buttigieg can’t order a fucking cake if he wanted to have a party with his husband. What will you do when someone suggests that it’s against their religion to serve a black man at a lunch counter? The nation will be behind you. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court decided it was ok to treat a gay man that way.

My grandmother grew up in a French ghetto and had to leave school in the 4th grade to work in textile mills her whole life. Your black ass got to go to the “smart classes.” So, no, I don’t agree that anyone who is white is automatically given a free pass. But you wouldn’t know that because you think every white man is the same. If ANY white man made a comment like that, what would we call it? RACISM. When the textile mills became Spanish in the 1970s, this uneducated woman got up every morning at 5:30 am to read the Spanish dictionary and taught herself Spanish so she could remain part of the minority community that she belonged to. That was my role model.

Does your black ass live in a minority, low-income neighborhood now? Do you walk the walk, or just run your bullshit mouth?

As I see it, the black community is about 20 years ahead of the gay community which is about 20 years ahead of the transsexual community.

I don’t even get my own fucking acronym. I’m not transgender! I went and got my transsexual ass to surgery and gave up the right to have any children because the US government wouldn’t give me a passport when my goatee-wearing ass showed up at their office. I said, “I have to be one or the other, but I am a citizen, choose one and give me my passport.” After deep thought, they told me to come back with the right letter. So every time I take a piss I have pain but I piss as a man with a blue passport that says I am; I just don’t piss on the people who have fought to try to get me rights … at this moment, unsuccessfully.

I’m very sure that even the most racist pig knows not to call you a “nigger” to your face. I had a student, apropos of nothing, start talking to me about how if they let transsexuals into the schools she was going to home school her daughter because they are all pedophilic racists. I routinely hear students say things like, “I have a horse that identifies as a cow, maybe we should legalize that.” Do you think that they would dare say, “I have a monkey that wants equal rights because color is only skin deep?”

No. Fucking. Way.

But like that young black man whose family passes for white, it’s a big decision to embrace being a role model. I have a family that I support. I can’t afford to open my transsexual mouth and spew obscenities at the assholes in my class because if I did, I wouldn’t get the 80 cents on the dollar a black man can expect. In fact, my community has MUCH higher unemployment rates, lower wages, and a higher risk of suicide than the black community. But Buttigieg is just a white man, right? He’s just reaping the benefits of institutional racism left, right and center. Who is the ignorant ass?

Just for a moment, pretend to be smart. Why, in 2016, after 60 years of civil rights movements did this country elect a white nationalist?

Do you know what the Right calls the Left? Libtards.

Do you know WHY they elected Trump?

Because they’re sick and fucking tired of liberal intellectuals saying that every minority has it worse than straight white men. That every single person in this country has more rights than someone born straight, white and male.

Gee, does that sound familiar? That people don’t want to be judged by what group they were born to?

And as a transsexual man, I’d like to side with you but the raw truth is I’ve experienced more abuse as a straight white man than I ever did as a straight white female, a gay transsexual man or even a straight transsexual man.

A tenant started harassing me because I was transsexual. I got a restraining order and he stopped. I let it lapse. He started back up. The judge made me spend 8 hours in the courtroom waiting for my lawyer. He refused me the right to represent myself. While I was waiting, a woman came up and asked to have the order vacated against her spouse. The judge told her, “If you change your mind, just come back. You don’t even need to give me a reason.” Then, when my lawyer showed up, after everyone else had left, he told me to go fuck myself and I wasn’t getting a new restraining order because, and I quote, I hadn’t listed any new harassments on the paperwork. He would not let me open my mouth to explain the man was after me because I’m a minority. My lawyer actually asked, “Judge, what if this tenant comes and attacks my client this weekend?” The judge said, “Then call the cops and they will do their job or they can come to my courtroom.” Well, my tenant attacked me that weekend, caused $1,500 to my property, had to be dragged off by the cops threating to kill me and wasn’t even charged.

But you know, I’m pretty sure that judge (he was Hispanic, I’m sure you give a shit, I don’t) would have helped a brother out if you had been in his courtroom. But two white men don’t like each other? Fuck off.

I was in an all-black community in the Middle East. Black US men. They literally couldn’t tell the difference between me and a white colleague who is 20 years my senior. They left me in my apartment without any way to get food for 4 days. I said something they didn’t like and when I was half in the car, they slammed on the gas and drove off, injuring me.

When’s the last time you’ve been thrown out of a car for being black?

Let me guess; NEVER.

I get racism and sexism and every ism you want for being a straight, white male. I have to come out to people as transsexual just so I can get my “minority card” back and not be treated like an ignorant asshole just based on the color of my skin and the wedding ring on my left hand.

And you want to fucking bitch about Buttigieg who knows damn fucking well what it means to look around and see two choices and not have any fucking role models and knows in his soul that this is a hard fucking choice to make?

The one who should have listened was you.

When Trump gets re-elected, I’ll be looking at you. Every Right wing assfuck who read your article you just made them more sure than they can ever have been that they need to stand behind Trump.

And why? Because you wanted to piss and moan about something you don’t even feel can be fixed? I mean look, what the fuck did you think you were achieving? Besides pulling Buttigieg down?

We had a black President, asshole, and he was one of the best presidents this country has ever had. And why did they elect the poster-boy of the KKK after him? Because black intellectuals wouldn’t give it a fucking break. And Russia, seeing that this was a weakness, did everything it could to back up people like you who need to promote racism because God For FUCKING Bid that this country DIDN’T have a HUGE racial issue between blacks and whites, then what fucking good would people like you be you’re your “black-ass” keyboard? Because if you weren’t out bitching about ditches and institutional racism you might not be anyone special. It’s being a black writer that makes you special, right? And if a black man and a white man were equal, where’s the fun in that?

When they haul my transsexual ass off to the gas chamber, I’ll curse you with my dying breath. When they throw my brother, a Cape Verde man, on a plan and send his ass back to a country he hasn’t seen since he was five, I’ll curse you.

And when Trump gets re-elected, which he sure as shit is going to be, you can pat yourself on the back about how you really struck a blow against the racist institution that is really oppressing you right now.

The rest of us real minorities will know you’re just sitting on your black privileged ass, not giving a shit about anyone but yourself. Smart brothers? The only one who thinks that’s abnormal is you.

Did my obscenities offend you? Good! Your articles offended me. And not because I’m white.

Let’s talk again about why America elected Donald Trump. I’ll try to put it more plainly so you can understand. Because poor white people think that they have a disadvantage because they’re white. What is Trump telling them that they want to hear? “They wanted to get rid of Thanksgiving” that’s code for “liberals are trying to destroy your way of life.” They don’t identify with your naïve statement that every white man has a better chance at a better life because they’re white. I met a white man online who has an outhouse (an outhouse! In 2019!) in Illinois. They look at the media and see that people want something because they’re black and they think liberals will give it to them. Trump is saying, “Yes, the American dream is dead, the black intellectuals are right – but it’s because they stole your tax dollars and gave it to schools to subsidize black/gay/insert-minority-here students.” They think that they are being robbed to pay for people who enlist in the military to get sex changes. And they believe it because they don’t see themselves represented and all they hear is they don’t deserve representation because they’re white and everyone knows every white person has more than every black person. People realize what they believe. I’ve looked into the eyes of students who I knew had a snowballs chance in hell of making a better life and told them, “I believe in you. I believe you’re smart and you can succeed.” And the ones who listened to me, did. And the ones who told me all the reasons they can’t, they’re too dumb, the system is rigged against them, etc. etc. failed. Not because they were lesser people but because they believed they couldn’t succeed. If you want to “fix” institutional racism you have to eliminate racism. How can you do that? Very easy. Help people to understand that it’s been replaced by classism. Greg was successful in becoming a lawyer NOT because he was white. He was successful because he had a father and grandfather who could pay for tutors for the LSAT and the bar. He probably went to the best schools. It’s not that white America is segregating black America, it’s that poor America lives in ghettos and is being robbed blind by wealthy America. People like you who think the only way to protect their elite privilege is to slam the door on the people trying to climb out of the gutter so they won’t bring down property values.

If what you said was right, OJ Simpson would have gone to jail for killing his wife. Barack Obama would not have been elected President. A wealthy black man has just as many rights as a wealthy white man, but a poor black man regardless of color has nothing. I’ve been harassed by cops for no reason, but I’ll never make the evening news. You have Mueller’s investigation; did you learn NOTHING? The Russians meddled in our election and what did they do? They tried to increase racial tension. Because 30% of a country of idiots could then be convinced that a man who was a millionaire as a toddler could represent them because he’s the same color. Isn’t that the stupidest thing you’ve EVER HEARD? But they bought it because liberal intellectuals like you set the scene. And now they will look at Buttigieg’s new educational plan that he had to make to appease you because he can’t win without the black vote and they will say, “Well, he might have been good, but he’s just a libtard like the rest of them. He will kiss the black ass and I can kiss my ass goodbye. So I won’t vote for him.” How much better could it have been if you had backed down from making it all about race? If you had said he couldn’t understand you because he was wealthy and let him come to your position and say, “It’s not that I’m a wealthy white man, it’s that I understand what it means to be marginalized in this world and robbed of my rights and that shouldn’t happen to anyone, regardless of color/sex/creed.” He could have united a country but you made sure the institutional divide was there. You are far guiltier of maintaining institutional racism than he could ever be, because all you do is reinforce the status quo. Did your parents tell you every night how you would owe more money after college and make less because you were black? Would you have got your black ass to school if they had?

It is US against THEM – you just don’t understand who the fuck US really is because you’re so far up the ass of THEM you can’t look around and see reality.

I highly doubt you made it past the line where I identified as white. But if you came this far, here’s my wish: I wish just for once in my life it could be like it was back in the 1970s when it really looked like racial equality was on the horizon. I wasn’t raised to be racist. I was trained to be racist by a black friend who told me that not seeing someone’s color was racist. I was your friend Greg. I only saw her as my friend. And then a bunch of Ivy League (yeah, she went to an Ivy League college; you would probably recognize her father’s name but I won’t drop it) black pseudo-intellectuals got hold of her. And I got a lecture on how treating black people no different from any other people was racist.

Funny, all those people were at an Ivy League college too but you wouldn’t have known it. They were far more interested in institutionalized racism than any actual racism they had experienced. Maybe, they just hadn’t experienced any. Or maybe, they hadn’t experienced any more than any other person in this country but they wanted their asses kissed.

My friend never experienced racism before she went to college and fell in with a bad crowd, except once on a six month visit to Alabama, poor thing. She knew nothing of being poor. She knew nothing of the real struggles the people she was identifying with went through because her family had more money than my family could ever dream of having. Her black father put three biracial children through private school and had tons of money left over, whereas my middle-class grandparents ransacked their retirement to pay the amount I couldn’t win in scholarship. I was picking up welfare cheese while she was taking the elevator in her building back to her parent’s posh condo. I couldn’t understand what she was talking about when my mother had taught me every day of my life not to be racist, not to do exactly what she was demanding I do. It was one of the worst days of my life and the reason is because it was a lie. If I could go back in time I would say to her, what about her? Maybe she should try to meet some poor people. Maybe she should try to experience life as a poor white or black person. Maybe she should see that in that conversation the “have” was her and the “have not” was me, even if the colors were the wrong way to please black intellectuals.

We don’t talk any more. She belongs to the black community. Not even texts back and forth. Because of my not being racist and my being white, the latter was more important.

The only people my mother raised me to mock or discriminate against was ignorant people.

So if my letter made you feel bad, I don’t apologize.

As far as I’m concerned, that’s the group you should identify with.

And before I go, just one more comment: you went to a private school, didn’t you? Either way you slice it, your rich white friend Greg, now third generation lawyer, wasn’t driving down to your poor black neighborhood with the raggedy ass door to drive you to the majority black underfunded school across the ditch. If he was, then you wouldn’t be whining about how any mediocre white man, I assume Greg, can get a better education than the smartest black man, I assume you. Either the system stuck him in the same poor underfunded school as you or, more likely, you went to a private school. Either way, you don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.

“Smart classes,” my ass.

Where DO you live?

I live in the same low class house where I was born. The one my blue collar grandparents scraped and saved to buy after my grandfather fought in WWII so you could have the freedom to take down the Democratic Party in the most important election of the millenium.

They sent me to private school too after the raggedy ass public schools got my mother hooked on drugs and alcohol and became MY baby momma as a teenager and my Dad, imagine! A white man! Took off, leaving us to the tender mercies of the welfare system.

So I talk about my grandparents because my mother died at 36; they raised me and I didn’t get to go to the fancy college like my colleagues because I got a job when she died. Actually, I got 4 part time jobs because, gasp, no one wanted to hand me money. And me being white! No one scraped and bowed to give it to me. I was just the son of immigrants who taught him to work hard to get ahead.

Some day, when I’m so old I don’t care who lynches me maybe I’ll come out and be a role model. Until then, unfortunately, my minority doesn’t have black privilege. I probably won’t see an LGBTQ President because of racists like you.

There were four white men at that table but you called Buttigieg the lying motherfucker.

Why?

Because he was a threat to Booker or Harris? Why single him out for saying his truth?

You want racism? There’s a writer at The Root. Harriot. Look him up; he’s the most racist lying motherfucker you’ll ever read.

And he’s stumping for Trump. A black man. Can you fucking believe it?

Dear Mr. Sinister,

I win…

I think.