The November 24 letter from writer Denise Connolly about her concern, in part, of having people telling her of her WSP (white skin privilege), needs some clarification. I feel her on the issues she and her spouse have had to live with, which are common ground shared by people of all hues. But what she can’t comprehend is the perspective of those who are born with melanin far deeper (e.g. browns to charcoal) and their living experiences, particularly in the U.S. Those skin tones too often both subtly and overtly are subjugated to behaviors from the dominant culture/race that are laced with implicit racism manifested in so many ways. If Denise cannot try on the dress, she can never really know how it feels.

Of course those in the dominant group are so accustomed to a reality that doesn’t always cross over the racial tones equally, that they never realize that WSP is actively in place. Let me share this personal experience.

In the early ‘70s, I was a doubly-degreed, world-travelled, fully qualified new employee of the railroad from which I exited 13 years later after years of being refused any promotions for which I applied. Such positions were filled by those less qualified, and with less seniority—but they all had white skin. It was quite painful to train a new hire who quickly moved up three levels (all of which I applied for) while I remained a clerk in a position requiring only a high school education. My gifted mind wasted, with my employer not really being an equal-opportunity employer and fulfilling the mandated Affirmative Action in return for government subsidies.

Other samples of historical black experience in general are: the common “last hired, first fired”; color-coding on applications; being told “you are not the right fit”; being steered by realtors to ethnically “appropriate” neighborhoods or being denied apartment rentals with occupancy given only to persons with white skin; the unofficial “black tax” (yes, it exists)—those are just to name a few. Experiencing these is when we, of hue, know all too well that the oft-expressed slogan we share, “White is right, Black step back,” is alive and active.

Melanin one is born with, and it is quite permanent.

Babies are not born with racial pride or prejudice, but these are acquired by external influences over time and become embedded, entrenched into one’s psyche only to be manifested in many ways. Unfortunately, in too many people that pride can go dreadfully askew and painfully, illegally and destructively applied.

No hatred to Denise, but I hope she can better understand that of which she is not fully aware, or can ever experience, simply because she has not had the historical roots, limbs and branches that I and many who look like me have had to endure, enabling us to look through clear lenses at the WSP in the U.S. from the perspective of Black Lives Matter.

[Afi Phoebe is a resident of Jamaica, NY and Narrowsburg, NY.]