A black friend and I were talking the other day.

“You and I are old,” she said, and we have lived through a lot of things. You are old enough to think that things have changed for us Black folks. But the reality is…nothing has changed.”

It took my breath away. I thought her answer to what has changed would be different.

I am a child of the 60s. Yeah, yeah, go ahead with OK Boomer and all that other BS that shows you don’t know a thing about my generation, its hopes and dreams, the things it worked for. Who we are.

One of those things we worked for was racial equality. And I must say that in my heart of hearts, I thought we’d made progress. Sure, I was disappointed that we haven’t gotten further. But I thought we’d at least moved the ball down the field a bit.

But ask any Black person and they’ll say, no.

Nothing has changed.

I had to accept that she is right. (It is, after all, HER experience. I am not Black.) But it was more than just taking her word for it. When I really dug in to her comment I saw the truth of it. Because the underlying attitudes haven’t changed at all.

In a discussion about how a Trump supporter I know justifies January 6, I was told that they felt it was “mostly peaceful” and that while they thought Trump was an idiot, they felt the economy was better under Trump. This was pre-second “election.” (If it really was an election and not a. hack.)

“I see,” I responded to the friend who was telling me the story. “The economy was better under Bill Clinton, too, did they vote for HIM?”

They did not.

The fact is, that whenever someone uses the economy to justify Trump and his “policies” or really, any Republican “policies” –it isn’t the economy. It’s the social issues. 100%. It’s race . And gender and sexual orientation.

But race first.

It’s all the things that make others different and in that difference, the “others” become people who need to be put in their place. Especially if they are people of color.

Taking a knee? I love to see it. It is a symbol of sadness and disagreement without disrespect. But the right-wing crowd chooses to see it as disrespect So they can keep Black people down. Where they belong. It’s a rallying cry for the right, when it should be a teachable moment.

Abortion foes are pro-life? That’s a joke. Because a whole load of doctors have been killed by those so-called pro-lifers. Who want to control women. Keep them from crossing state lines to get services refused them at home. Yes, keep them down, too. Even subject them to the DEATH PENALTY.

Gay marriage? “Gay sex is UNNATURAL!” I always tell them if they closed their eyes they wouldn’t know who they were with, because it’s all the same in the end. Natural. It’s all natural. Marriage between a man and a woman, or same genders…natural. The desire to be loved and love by another is very natural. But the right-wing crowd (especially the men) are so insecure that someone wanting a different way of life is threatening to them.

This started out about race and let’s get back to it.

We think things changed for the better for people of color, and then we see video of a Sesame Street character ignoring little black children in favor of white kids.

The theme park says “The costumed character didn’t see the kids!” But it’s interesting how they could see white kids of the same size and age. How the character hugged the little white kids but walked by the Black children.

For shame.

THIS is a single example of the Black experience that we white people do not see. One small example in their lifetimes of being snubbed, ignored, denigrated, insulted and held back.

“Change behavior and attitudes will follow,” we heard back in the 60s. Well, it didn’t exactly work out that way. Oh gosh. DEI? Affirmative action? The laws we were so. proud of? Did little to nothing in terms of societal change.

“Surely that is an exaggeration!” some might respond. Oh, I know we don’t want to believe it’s true. But ask any person of color what their experience is and if they trust you, they’ll tell you. And it is hair-raising.

As a child of the 60s, a Boomer. I had all of the high hopes and innocence of my generation. Trumpworld is a bitter pill and an especially bitter one is how black lives don’t matter. Across the board.

Yeah, ok, some of you who subscribe will disagree. Either you don’t believe what I’m saying or you just don’t want your pleasant life to be disturbed by unpleasant truths.

I hope you’ll take a minute to think.