Most people would like to think that racism is the thing of the past, and many would say that American has come a long way. For many minority Americans, however, racism is still very real. A lot of people don’t see it and can’t understand what it’s like to live your life in fear, just because of the color of your skin.
One man recently took an everyday situation and turned it into a lesson for the world.
He walked outside to find a package on his porch. The package wasn’t his, it was his neighbor’s. He left it there because he is too scared to send his sons or to go himself because they live in a white neighborhood, and he isn’t sure how his neighbors would handle seeing black people on their porch.
He claims he isn’t the only one who feels this way.
He posted:
“This package has been sitting outside my house for days now. Why? Because we are black. And yes, I’ll explain.
“UPS mistakenly delivered this package to the wrong house. The address on the package is for a house just a block over, so we are waiting for UPS to pick up the package and deliver it to the right house.
“’But Sean, why wouldn’t you be a decent person and just take the package to your neighbor? Or better yet, you have teenage sons. Send one of them. That’s the perk of having teenagers — free menial labor.’
“The answer is because we’re black. And it’s extremely unsafe to send our boys to the home of any family that we don’t know in this predominantly white neighborhood.”
“Why? Because there is a realistic chance that one of my neighbors will see my boy as a threat and call the police or even pull a gun on him.
“And if you think I’m being ridiculous or paranoid, Google ‘Brennan Walker,’ a 14 yo black boy who earlier this month, missed the bus and tried to walk to school. He got lost and approached a house to ask for directions. The owners of this home were convinced that this 14 yo BOY had come to kill them (in broad daylight), causing the husband to pull out his gun and open fire on the fleeing BOY.
“THAT is why this f–king package will be sitting on my porch until UPS retrieves it. Because I can’t trust that my white neighbors won’t see me, a Harvard-educated lawyer (or my 14 yo honor student son) as a roaming homicidal maniac.
“THIS is what it’s like to be black in ‘post-racial’ America.”
Of course, there are people who would claim that he is just being paranoid.
The media is full of news reports of innocent black people who were hurt and even killed because white people feared for their lives simply because they were interacting with a black person.
The sad truth is that there is still a divide in our country between whites and blacks and neither race feels comfortable with the other.
Some people want to believe that they aren’t racist and claim to have plenty of black or white friends, but in the end, they judge or fear the opposite race for no other reason than because they are black or white.
The media is just as responsible for causing this rift as it is for raising awareness of it.
It’s a shame that this man can’t feel comfortable talking to his neighbors or even returning a package. If he was white living in that same neighborhood, he wouldn’t feel this way. If he was black and had black neighbors, he probably wouldn’t feel this way either.
This is the sad reality of many black American and it’s unfortunate for whites too.
We should all be able to feel comfortable in our homes and neighborhoods. Hopefully this man or one of his neighbors can initiate a friendship so they can all live together happily and maybe even set an example of how the world should be.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
This package has been sitting outside my house for days now. Why? Because we are black. And yes, I’ll explain.
UPS…
Posted by Sean Carter on Friday, April 27, 2018
