I didn't grow up surrounded by black people, but I certainly have known and befriended my share. I didn't hang out with people in the "projects" because I never lived in the projects. I always kind of lived in the middle of nowhere. Whether you're talking about whites, blacks or Hispanics, there are certain areas where the culture is, shall we say, toxic? And those are the people who get together and protest things they know nothing about, generally speaking. They blame their circumstances on "the system", but none of them can coherently articulate what the system is, or what it does to hold them down. They just know that there is something out there, and it's holding them down.

The black people I have been friends with were not like that. I was in a local metal band a little more than a decade ago, and one of the singers we had was black. He was a cool guy (for a while) but not really much of a singer. He and I had a dispute over him comparing Jesus to Santa Claus, which I pointed out to him was pretty silly coming from a guy who was a professed Pagan. That conversation did not end well, and we parted ways. But, prior to that, we were able to discuss all sorts of topics with respect, and we were actually really close friends. It still bums me out that he had to get all uptight about my faith, out of nowhere.

Anyway, I'm not sure why we're talking about this. It doesn't really take perspective of being around a group of people to know fact from fiction. I have no issue with people of any color, based on their color. I have a problem with people who lie about systemic racism, when the facts don't back it up, and then treat white people like crap, but nothing happens.

Edit- I did live in Mamou for two years, which is as close to the projects as I've ever been. It's at least 50-50, blacks and whites there, and so I had plenty of interactions. Never had an unpleasant one.

This post was edited on 4/22/21 at 8:00 am