This is originally from an entry on my Medium blog
Disclaimer: This piece is not a condemnation of the concepts of White Privilege or BLM. If that’s what you’re here for, don’t waste your time (or, more importantly, mine).
As someone who has spent a great deal of time around people of various racial/ethnic backgrounds throughout my adult life, I’ve encountered race and race-based discussions a lot…and this was before my Pro-Black gene kicked into high gear over just the last couple of years. This means that I, like most any other socially aware people of color on this planet, have engaged in (and been dragged into…and beaten over the head with) more conversations around race than I care to recall. And if you’re here, you’re probably already well aware of all of the headaches that a life filled with these conversations and “debates” can entail, so I’ll spare you (and myself) the outlining of all of those gory details.
As any other Pro-Black person who’s discussed race for an extended period of time knows, you hit a certain point of fatigue with said discussions. This fatigue has gotten me to the point where I rarely, if ever, debate racial issues with white people (beyond the occasional, self-gratifying shade or clapback). And this is mainly because there’s a certain level that far too many just don’t seem to be able to make it past, which I’ve started calling the “Kiddie Pool” of social justice — topics like “White Privilege” and “Black Lives Matter.”