Dear White People/Dear Black People/To Whom It May Concern:

Photo by Scott Graham for Unsplash.

I TRIED TO TRIGGER A SERIOUS CONVERSATION ABOUT RACE IN THIS POST FOR BLACK HISTORY MONTH.

Suddenly readers who normally comment went silent. Maybe no one read it, or no one liked it, or no one would touch it with a 10-foot pole.

I had braced myself for all sorts of criticism — that I was oblivious to my white privilege, that I’d betrayed the trust of African-American friends…