I never held you down… I never oppressed you… I never enslaved you.
If your father stole a million dollars should you be held personally responsible for his actions? Should you be in debt for the rest of your life? If he killed a man, should you sit in the electric chair in his absence?
An accepted principle of justice systems in the modern world is that the son cannot be held accountable for the actions of the father.
Don’t hate me for the prejudices and actions held by people of my skin color.
Don’t equate what previous generations did with what my generation is doing.
To do so is the very definition of racism.
Nor does the mere fact that I am a man make me evil. Yes, I have a penis. No, I do not use it to bludgeon the world.
I am not an anonymous white man in a crowd.
Please stop hating me.
I don’t hate you bro. And you don’t owe me anything. To yourself, you owe the realization that slavery was not the end. Civil Rights was not the end. The Obama election was not the end…We all must make our own way in this life; but we must also be cognizant of the fact that where are are in life is not always to the sole credit of what we have done individually. What your father had, you experienced. What your brother does is a valuable social connection. When you go to college as a “legacy” student, you spend currency that you did not earn. Our past, in these regards, is always with us. I would hope that no one would ever hate you for being White, or for being a dude. I’d also hope that you never get strange looks when you get on a plane, or dismissed because of a thick accent.
Got nothin’ but love for ya bro…just see past the projected hate. Believe you me, it’s still socially, economically, and professionally far easier to “blend in” with the guys in the corner office than to have to constantly prove that you are a force to be reckoned with.