This is a genuine question: do you really feel as if there's a need for more writing about instances of racism? Do you feel as if it's difficult to find people writing about racism, from the blink-and-you'll-miss-it micro aggressions they've experienced to the most tragic cases of racial discrimination and hate? Do you think it's valuable for me to add yet more to that background radiation of racial negativity we're all swimming in?

No, I'm not going to "imagine" the amount of racism that woman has experienced. Because that's the point. Our imaginations can tell us any story we want them to. Our imaginations can convince us that the world is against us no matter what reality says. Especially if we spend all of our time reading stories about other people's bad days and acting as if they're our own.

But let's say you're right. Let's say the staff let a white man though with a giant bag just because he was white. Let's assume he hadn't already paid for it (as you can do when you buy your ticket). Let's assume that all of the other white people the staff had stopped were just cover for the black woman who was their real target. What's the best thing for her and her daughter to believe?

1. That this is just one of those annoying things that greedy corporations do.

Or 2. That this is yet more proof that she is reviled n the world for the colour of her skin. That everybody around her is constantly wondering how they can ruin her day. That she is hated and devalued and there's nothing she can ever do about it.

We live in the world we expect. And I'd rather she (and especially her daughter) expected a world where she was treated with the same respect as everybody else. Because 99% of the time, in 2024, that's objectively the world we live in.