I can’t believe in 2014 that racism is still so rampant, and I really can’t believe that as a society we have regressed so far that people are once again willing to flaunt their racism publicly. In my much more idealistic youth, I had hoped to live to see the day when it was eliminated from the world, but as I’ve aged and realized that would never happen, I’ve clung to hope to see it at least pushed so far to the fringes that only lunatics would dare utter racist slurs publicly. Now, after seeing so much hate pour from so many white people’s hearts over the last two weeks, I’m really ashamed of just how far we’ve backslid as a country.

The one that really pisses me off is the meme going around about no work boots having been taken during the looting in Ferguson. For those of you too stupid to understand why that’s racist, please exit by the side door and go read something by Frederick Douglass. There is no way to spin that meme so that it’s not a racial slur. Anyone who claims it isn’t is either delusional, deficient in cognitive ability, or a liar. That meme is just a continuation of the tired, old stereotypes that minorities are just a bunch of lazy animals. Under the circumstances, there is no other way to read it, and I have reached a point in my life where I refuse to sit idly and allow the hatemongers to go unchallenged.

To my black friends, I’m sorry that all the progress I thought we were making has been lost. I’m sorry that ignorance and intolerance are so difficult to defeat. I’m sorry we’re still having to fight this same old fight.