My Choice or My Skin Color

 The worst type of racism I ever experienced was when another person of color told me that I was entitled a proverbial "seat at the table" because I was brown. She meant well, but it never sat well with me for other people to tell me that I deserve something because I was a minority.

I won't lie, I felt lucky in the moment. I felt like I was finally being noticed and that my experiences and opinions were going to add to the conversation and make an incredibly profound impact on the direction of politics in the free world.

But the truth is, I was more disappointed by this comment because it had no regard for my being outside of the color of my skin. I am more than my brown skin. I am more than what people see on the outside.

I'll always remember the words of Martin Luther King because his dream was that there would be a day when we would be judged by the content of our character and not by color of our skin. I believe that, whole heartedly. But this idea, that we deserve something because we are brown, flies in the face of that.

We are the sum of our experiences; especially the way in which we choose to respond to the things that happen to us. In the current race wars and culture wars in the US, this is probably the most forgotten aspect of how we've gotten to this current place of turmoil and hatred. If we don't start talking about personal choice and personal freedom, and how that plays a major part in where life takes us, we are doomed to be stuck in perpetual victimhood for a very long time.