EVERYONE WANTS TO FEEL VALIDATED

Have you ever gone through something and not known a single other person who'd been through it? So you write about it in your journals and possibly feel very alone. My friend is a therapist and has at least 12 clients who talk about it, the anger in baltimore, and not feeling safe here. Sometimes it feels too dangerous to even tell your friends. They might alienate you because they just don't get it so they assume that you are being racist.

I was so afraid to talk about my daily experiences with reverse racism. I didn't think anyone would believe me. I feel a sense of relief because now I have 2 single white female friends who've gone through horrible verbal, emotional and sometimes physical abuse for being white. One of my friends is a nurse at a hand clinic and my other friend was a hostess in the dining hall of a nursing home. She did not feel safe at all, based on what she saw happening against the white employees. She'd run to her car after work for fear of being robbed, raped or killed. And this happened in rural/suburban baltimore county. Somehow she survived the job for 4 years.

Even when we know in our hearts that what has happened to us is very real, when we can't talk about it it makes us feel lonely. I'm so grateful to now have 2 women who I can have an open dialogue with.

I told Jill (the one that worked in the nursing home) that Oprah had a panel of speakers to talk about racism and sexism right after the Imus controversy. Jill said that the problem of reverse racism needs to be acknowledged before anything can be done about it . Wise words from a 20 year old, don't ya think? But no-one on the show, on the panel, or in the audience acknowledged it. I've been meaning to write to her.............................