People only see what they want to see, and if you only see X, then you’ll only understand it as X. When I was younger, I would like to argue that it was easier for my friends to understand me if they didn’t acknowledge the color of my skin. The truth is, the color of my skin adds a level of complexity that I don’t think any of my friends were willing to understand. It’s not because they didn’t love me, I think it’s a challenging topic…