“ Dear friend, I wanted to relay to you experience with racism. Many years ago, I was in training to…”

Dear friend, I wanted to relay to you experience with racism. Many years ago, I was in training to be a therapist. One of the training modules included leading a group therapy session. Part of the training included being observed by a licensed therapist by way of a two-way mirror. The licensed therapist would observe group therapy and under no circumstances would the licensed therapist intervene with the group therapy session. During one particular session, a black woman named Theresa got up and slapped me in the face. The licensed therapist broke his rule and came out from the two-way mirror and told the woman to leave the group. Theresa was invited back to group therapy the week after the incident. After some discussion, it turned out that Theresa slapped me because I was a white male. There was nothing I did personally to offend her, but she was so upset at white males that she could not contain herself. At first, I was upset with her since I was trying to assist her in therapy. "I did nothing to her!" I would say to mylsef. This was years before Black Lives Matter or Me Too, but it was initiation into rare relations. Since many years have passed, I have forgiven Theresa. In fact, the gift of that shocking incident was to awaken me to my white privilege and to show me the depths of rage that exists in teh black community. -A Friend.