There have been just two times in my life where I was in the minority.

I’m reading “White Fragility” and it’s brought a flood of memories to me regarding me, and race (a social construct) – and the two times I felt conspicuous as a minority.

Background

I can attribute both of my experiences to a black shipmate, one directly and the other indirectly. MB and I met in boot camp in San Diego, and ended up on the same ship afterwards. We hated living on the ship while it was in dry dock in Long Beach, and so we and another shipmate rented a one bedroom apartment in town and took the bus to and from the ship, for just one month, until I was sent to my A-School in the suburbs of Indianapolis for 6 months.

When I returned to the ship in October 1973 it was at…