We are all racists

Once upon a time in the USA, there was a white boss and his black employee. The boss was recently transferred to the company and was promoted to boss level within a few months. The black employee had been working in the same company for 30 years.

One day, there was news of a black cafe refusing to serve a white customer. It was during the Black Lives Matter protests, and black people were angry about how they were treated violently by the system. During lunch break, someone brought up the news about the cafe refusing to serve the white customer.

The white boss instantly thought about the Down With White Trash slogans chanted during the BLM protests. He thought about that one time when a black person made racist remarks while serving him in a cafe. He felt very hurt back then. And he still felt very hurt now. There was so much hate against white people in this fair country. So much racism against whites. Sure, a small percentage white people were racists as well, but so were most black people, with their rap songs and refusal to speak proper english. If anything, white people were the ones who were always blamed for everything in society. So much racism. So much hate. So little unity.

The black employee instantly thought about how this young boss, who had so little work experience, had the power to fire him at an instant.

He’s tired of all the unfairness in this country, but it’s not like black people were not sometimes actually racist as well. In fact, he made racist comments about his white boss while with his black friends. But he was in front of his boss now. It’s wise to make cynical comments that everyone can agree with. Why talk about systemic injustice, when he could make a true statement about how everyone’s a racist? That’s part of the truth anyway. Nobody ever gets fired for being cynical.

We are all racists, I suppose. The black man declared.

We are all racists, I suppose. The white boss exclaimed, at the same moment.

Both the white man and the black man laughed. But one of them laughed a proud, vindicated laugh, and the other’s laughter was tired and bitter.