Today, the Republican presidential nominee was interviewed by Rachel Scott, ABC News Senior Congressional Correspondent; FOX News anchor Harris Faulkner; and Semafor political reporter Kadia Goba, three Black women journalists at the National Association for Black Journalists convention. Why? Given his previous statements about Black people, why they would invite him in the first place is a profound mystery to me. 

But it happened.

And true to form, that guy was as openly hostile, disrespectful, and brazenly racist as he wanted to be. Who am I kidding? We all know he could have become a full-on n-word-screeching harpy at any moment. And who knows? In his own hate-addled mind, he probably was. 

I. Could. Not. Care. Less. About. The. Words. That. Come. From. That. Guy’s. Pie. Hole. I couldn’t.

But what I do care about is the way people react to those words.

It bothers me that we live in a country where it’s acceptable for anyone to be subjected to brazen disrespect and bald-faced racism the way these women were. If it were unacceptable, people in his ranks would publicly reprimand him for his behavior.

It bothers me that those three women, all learned, accomplished professionals in their own right, were denied the respect due them as human beings.

And it bothers me most that I know people who are the way down with their candidate’s racism and misogyny. 

Why? 

Why?! 

Here’s why.

I can safely say without hesitation, on behalf of the majority of Black people in the United States, we can identify withother Black people, especially when they’re thrust into the media’s white-hot spotlight while being subjected to racism. 

Why? 

We know what it’s to live in Black skin in these United States, for God’s sake! 

We’ve all experienced microaggressions, passive-aggressive bias, and abject racism. A surprising number of us have had to choke back bile when someone hurls a racial epithet in our direction for grins and giggles. (Because not everyone can hold this master class in etiquette and get away with it.)

When I see those women treated that way, I think of my female friends who are Black and have endured similar treatment. I think of my beautiful adult and adolescent nieces who've been denigrated solely because of the color of their skin.

My aunts and sisters have probably experienced things they’d rather erase from their memory than relive by retelling.

My best friend, the late Mrs. Elsie Adams, and my grandmothers, born in the early 1900s, come to mind. And you can only imagine how badly Black women were treated back then.

And last, I think of my ninety-one-year-old mother, the person I love more than any other human being. I know some of the things she endured over her lifetime, and no doubt there are things about racism she has not and has no intention of sharing with me.

What burns me is that some people I know think nothing of that man’s behavior. In fact, they embrace it and giggle with delight. (You know who you are.) Haha! He sure got them! Essentially, what you’re saying is you would also be okay with Donald Trump disrespecting my mother in the same way.

Can you imagine a former president mocking your mother? Your family member? Your friend? No, I didn’t think you could. That’s one of the benefits of privilege.

And some of you are the same people I’ve worked with, broken bread with, laughed and cried with, and prayed for. We’ve been there for one another. 

To continue to do the mental gymnastics necessary to embrace that man, you’re essentially saying that you subscribe to his racist beliefs. You see me, my family, and my mother, too, as less-than, second-class citizens deserving of his scorn.

I am under no delusion that not even one of you very fine people will be moved by this post. But answer me this: Is there anything that guy can do that would make you abandon him? Tell me in the comments. If there’s nothing, you’ve chosen power, class, and privilege over humanity. And we should just let the unfriending begin.

And the same goes for you trump-apologists.

Just leave your name in the Comments so I don’t accidentally unfriend the wrong person.

To learn that a friend embraces that kind of racism is the deepest kind of disappointment. And betrayal. I pity you. 

Y tu mama tambien.