Right on. I appreciate you for saying so. Some parents of mixed kids seem to think that if they don’t acknowledge that their kid will have different experiences, the differences go away or don’t matter. Really it just gaslights the kid and makes them feel alienated, even in their own family, or it teaches them to repress aspects of themselves that don’t fit the shiny happy story. I think for society to be post-race it has to acknowledge everything in it that’s shaped by race, ourselves included. Until then, everything else is a Band-Aid.

Re: your other comment, consciousness is so important and not a widely-understood concept yet. I’m planning to write about what my own process looks like so that it might help others. Learning to question my knee-jerk responses, and to get to the root of what I’m really responding to, has transformed my life (and continues to, as it’s certainly a life-long practice). I think it’s a crucial skill for all human beings. Thanks for reading and commenting, Koenig.