Thank you, Sharon. Hope you’re enjoying the holidays with the family!

Good for your mom, Paula. And thank goodness your aunt behaved after that. Remarks that are racial or demeaning show lack of moral character, so I hope she was thoroughly embarrassed. And we can hope she changed her ways.

I noticed a certain politician (I will NOT give her any press by giving her name) came out railing against Kwanzaa calling it a fake religion. Clearly showing her lack of education and knowledge on the topic, but also clearly using a dog whistle to rally white supremacists and get her sorry ass reelected (or donations). She’s reprehensible in her attitudes, and while I won’t give her free press here on this blog, I will call out her behavior as a prime example of what we should be shouting from the rooftops to stop. I hope she flames out in popularity, but until then, we all need to step up the condemning of such vile behavior.

Love your racism interrupters.

Not only did I grow up not knowing 90% of racial or ethnic slurs people like that aunt use on a daily basis, I never heard the F-word until at least 6th grade – and then I thought my friend made it up.

The two places I regularly see racist and bigoted behavior: TV news (especially locally – last week a local morning anchor was suspended for “accidentally” using the N-word on the air) and social media.

One place I see hope: Increased representation in TV commercials (and some shows). Not only are major brands using more people of color in ads, many are showing families with parents of different races, and they’re always in big, expensive dream homes. The more frequently majority white audiences see positive depictions of people of other ethnicities, the better.