White like me

The writing prompt from the presenter was simple enough: How has your race influenced your life?

I dutifully bent my head and put my pen to paper and . . . nothing. I had nothing to say. Race had not influenced my life. No experiences to reflect on. Nothing.

I sat up and looked across the room. Several other participants at that professional development session were staring blankly into the room. All of the non-writers were, like me, white. But every black or brown participant was writing furiously.