It’s OK to have a different opinion. I’ll be clear, though: I am not attempting to play devil’s advocate, nor am I saying that racism is ever OK. I am saying, though, that it is OK to respectfully disagree.

I grew up in Texas, and I still live in Texas -- and yes, as a white person. I notice when I am around more people of color than white people. I’m sure that POC notice when they are around more white people than people of their own race. This is not an issue. I am not scared of being around a different race. In fact, being around more POC than whites in the past few years, I have become more aware of what kind of struggle a POC might go through.

For example, I was riding a bus to campus and I noticed I was the only white person on it. I felt slightly out of place, to be honest, but then I remembered that this is probably how a lot of POC feel all the time.

I don’t pretend to be all-knowing, or above even slightly internalized prejudice. But I try to notice, accept and be aware of struggles and uncomfortable situations that non-white-passing people find themselves in.

I’m not pretending to be a spokeswoman for a cause, or pretending to actually, truly, know what it means to be black (Mexican, East Asian, West Asian, etc.) in the United States, but I have a voice -- a voice that white people will be more willing to listen to, solely because of the color of my skin.

If a woman, who is my age, and has the same credentials and opinions as me, but who is not white or white-passing, were to get up on a platform and advocate to a room full of white people for equal and fair treatment and respect, she would be written off as an, “angry [insert ethnicity] woman.” But, if I were to do the same things, I would be seen as a “forward thinker” and a “voice of my generation.” Is it really such a radical thought to try and empathize with the pain of another human? I digress.

We have in our midst a stark and terrifying contrast between races in our country. The Black Lives Matter movement started in order to promote respect for black people in the United States. Police officers have been firing guns and Tasers onto innocent-until-proven-guilty so-called “criminals” of color, noticeably more so than white “criminals.” Black Lives Matter is not a put down of other races and lives, but rather a raise-up for a community which has insofar been villainized because of prejudices held by community leaders (i.e. police officers). The hashtag Blue Lives Matter started trending as an opposition of Black Lives Matter, under the guise of being a movement to protect police officers -- armed police officers who wear Kevlar -- to protect them from bad and dangerous people. This sounds reasonable if you take it out of context. But it cannot be taken out of context. Blue Lives wants to kill the Black Lives movement, and Black Lives wants to stay alive without having their right to life questioned when they stay out past midnight in any given city. Blue Lives proceeds to shut down a movement that was not meant to attack anyone.

The media plays a part, of course. Facebook, as we all know, is rife with aggressive arguments on both sides. Beware of posting your opinion, because you will be attacked by someone you knew in middle school who doesn’t agree with you. Instead of actually trying to understand and empathize with your side, Kevin Kristopher Kotsiopoulos will tear you down with aggressive language that makes communication impossible.

For a reason, everyone has picked one side or another. People pick sides and refuse to attempt to understand the other. I, obviously, have my own thoughts on Black versus Blue, but I am willing to hear another person’s take. I don’t shut them down the moment I hear something I don’t agree with. I listen to them as respectfully as I can, with the hope that they will grant me the same courtesy when it is my turn to tell them they are wrong.

That being said, it is very important to still, and continuously, try to convince a racist asshole that racism is lethal, and that they are a bad person if they don’t see a problem with people being targeted for the color of their skin (though they may not realize they are being racist, which is another, probably longer, article).