It's a good piece. Nicely done.

Speaking as someone who is too white to be anything else, regardless of how many cultures he dips his toes in, allow me to offer a little perspective:

It's a rare thing to spend much time within a social group other than the one you're native to. Sure, you can visit. Sure, you can hang with friends. But I can drive a red sports car. Unlike my neighbor, who gave up on sports cars in his 20s because he was sick of being pulled over by the LAPD for driving while black. And I can understand that, because he's my neighbor. And I can internalize that, because he's my neighbor. And I can speak to that, because he's my neighbor.

But if you don't have a black neighbor, it probably doesn't occur to you.

The other thing to keep in mind is that when you "bring up race" amongst white folks, there's absolutely, positively no way for them not to be the villains. None. It's a rare thing for the honkies/crackers/gringos/gaijin/farang to be on the side of angels when it comes to race. And most of them are not actively attempting to perpetuate racist stereotypes. So the conversation, from their perspective, isn't "racism exists" it's "your ethnic group is oppressing my ethnic group even though we're friends."

I'm not saying there's a better way to do it. I don't think there's a comfortable way to remind your friends that they live a more privileged life than you do, or that those of your color have it harder than those of their color. But I think it's important to recognize that it's often more complicated than "willful ignorance." "Defensive ignorance" maybe. "passive/aggressive ignorance." "Knee-jerk ignorance."

Forgive them, 8bit, for they know not what they do.