Microdosing  

I like your hair today. It looks so… neat.  

It’s so nice, has it always been that long?  

Is it real?  

You should wear it like that more often.  

Are you mixed? How’d you get it so silky?  

You look so pretty… today.  

Only today.  

Microdosing: the action or practice of taking very small amounts of a drug in order to test its physiological action.  

Google defined.  

Diet Racism: saying things that make my eye twitch slightly at the implications but I cannot call you out on because I can’t take a complaint, I’m creating a problem, I’m being aggressive, I’m difficult, I’m the problem and not you and you don’t know any better so I should just smile and say  

Thank you so much, I try.  

Yes, it has thanks for noticing.  

Yes, it is real.  

Thank you, I’m glad you like it.  

No, I’m not mixed. It’s called a silk press.  

Thank you… so much.  

By microdosing your racism, you protect yourself and leave little black kids vulnerable to the psychological effects. 

Because the children are taught we were brought on a boat. Then we struggled. Then Harriet said no. And Abraham Lincoln freed us. Then mean white people were mean and they showed it. Mean white people didn’t let us go where we wanted and would sometimes hurt us. And we struggled. Then Martin had a dream and we were okay. We are okay. It’s all okay.  

The black kids learn early on that racism is not in black and white. Black baby’s first racism is a hands on experience. Mommy and daddy have to explain why the black teenager had to die and what the rules were if mommy and daddy ever got pulled over.  

The white kids will learn later. The white kids are too precious, they can’t know the world is evil, they need hope, they’ll learn when they grow up. And so, they grow up saying things like  

I like your hair today. It looks so… neat.  

It’s nice, has it always been that long?  

Is it real?  

You should wear it like that more often.  

Are you mixed? How’d you get it so silky?  

You look so pretty… today.  

Only today.  

And the black kids are taught to respond with kind smiles and bright tones.  

Thank you so much, I try.  

Yes, it has, thank you for noticing.  

Yes, it is real.