Last week this issue came up on my Facebook feed, and I was going to address it, but life happens, and the point got away from me.  However, scrolling through my Twitter feed, I see the, “I am not a racist because…” issue has reared its head again.

I typically like to write in-depth, thought-provoking blogs backed with facts and citations. However, there are sometimes it just is what it is. This blog is straight with no chaser.

For some (and by some I mean many) White people and ANYONE ELSE that says, “I am not racist because fill in the blank” please check the following list.

YOU CAN BE STILL BE RACIST IF…

1. You sleep with someone that is Black.
2. You fetishize and love Black dick.
3. You have birthed a child that is of mixed race.
4. You have adopted a Black child.
5. Your best friend is Black.
6. Your mother’s cousin’s brother’s sister is married to a Black person.
7. You are educated.
8. You love Kendrick Lamar.
9. You voted for Obama once.
10. You voted for Obama twice.
11. You would vote for Obama a third time if you could.
12. You allow Black people at your dinner table.
13. You listen to rap music.
14. You Milly Rock on any block.
15. You can Hit Dem Folks.
16. You made a protest sign.
17. You love Beyonce and know all the moves to Single Ladies.
18. You marched in ANY march in 2017.
19. You knitted a pink pussycat hat.
20. Your family didn’t own slaves.
21. You are a principal at a predominantly Black school.
22. You are a teacher at a predominantly Black school.
23. You voted for Hillary Clinton.
24. You supported Bernie Sanders.
25. You post #TrustBlackWomen.
26. You support Black activists online.
27. You did any type of missionary work in Africa.
28. You donate to the NAACP.
29. You retweet Black Lives Matter’s hashtags.
30. You consider the White people that voted for Trump “those people” and not you and your friends.
31. You know all the words to Bodak Yellow but censor the n-word.
32. Your response to Black activism is, “I support your efforts I just wish you did it another way.”
33. You support Colin Kaepernick protesting but wish he just didn’t protest during the games.
34. You don’t repeat racist jokes.
35. You quote Martin Luther King Jr. and Audre Lorde.
36. You dream about sleeping with Idris Elba.
37. You own black fleshtone sex toys.
38. You identify as someone in a marginalized group.
39. You are Christian.
40. You don’t see race.

I know it may be difficult to read this list because you may have believed that some of these things made you immune to being racist. They don’t. History is filled with White men and women that thought they were not racist when in fact we know that not to be the case.  Even today, there are many White men and women that truly believe they stand on the side of goodness and righteousness. However, that is not the case.

Check your actions.

Look in a mirror. 

Examine your heart.

Because there is where the truth resides.

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Author’s Note: This list is not exhaustive just things that I have experienced, read or heard and many I have experienced, read or heard in 2017. Let’s try harder in the New Year.