It Can Be Hard To Talk To Whites About Race Problems

I remember being 17:

"Ten minutes into the second half, I started to hear monkey chants. I couldn't believe it. I was just trying to play football.

It was a crowd of about 10 people standing behind the goal. It went on from there. One man shouted at me: 'black bastard' and 'banana man'. It was really upsetting.

After a while I was in tears. I couldn't really concentrate on the game.

I tried to, but the manager decided to take me off as he knew my head wasn't on the game. I appreciate what he did.

My teammates were really angry about the abuse I had received."

I'm in my 50s now, and would (lovingly) tell that young person to toughen up, and get used to it, because it only gets worse over time - and more complex - since whites won't deal with it, or themselves. Positive, or negative, you're going to be a target of some kind.

Oh, I'm sorry - I forgot most whites "don't see race" - my bad:

Go on back to being color "blind" without me.

Kind of hard to have a sympathetic ear.

I didn't mean to interrupt the party,...