Near as I can tell, stereotyping white people flipped the script and turned their world upside down. They shouted, argued and denied it so loudly and so long, the stereotype stuck like super-glue. There is no going back – the deed is done. White people have been stereotyped.

Today, I see white skin and think “privileged” – its automatic, it just pops into my head. And everything I associate with “privilege” follows – spoiled, pampered, weak, entitled, arrogant, self-righteous, judgmental, and pompous – again its automatic, I can’t stop it, my brain sees white skin and says those words.

I like to think I have some self-control, but this experience has taught me I am limp-minded – at best. I really have to pay attention to the voices in my head. If I don’t turn them off, I hear everything the person in front of me is saying through that stereotype.

Until now, I don’t think white people realized stereotyping was so powerful it could infect their brains too. Well, now they know. You can hear it in most everything white people write and say. There are all kinds of little tells. “But” is the most common tell. White people can’t talk about race without a BUT (followed by some kind of confession or lecture or denial or deflecting accusation). Before white people can say what’s on their minds, they have to answer their stereotype.

Black people have been coping with stereotyping every day of their lives. Makes it hard to feel sorry for white people struggling with their stereotype.

White people should have stopped stereotyping people a long, time ago, but they didn’t.

Games up, you can’t take pride in something that was handed to you (and denied others).

Near as I can tell, the only way out of this mess, is to build a fair and level playing field by digging the roots of racism out of our systems. Until then, white people will find their privileges increasingly uncomfortable.