But it doesn’t really matter to YOU – is what I often hear when the topic of race comes up.

It is when suddenly the other person realizes that I am not a member of the dominant society in the US.

I am a 4th generation Japanese American, 4th generation Californian living in the Midwest since 2015. Like so many, life has been a constant lesson in learning cultures, learning to bridge cultures. I've held on to some of what my grandparents gave me and, sadly, sacrificed too much of what they tried to give me because of my drive to be ‘part of’. I heard a 2014 TEDx talk titled ‘What I am Learning From My White Grandchildren’. Anthony Peterson posits that rather than the thought that race is real and it doesn’t matter, race is not real and it does matter. Race is a part of us but is not the only thing that makes each of us who we are, how competent we are, how caring we are. That is how it is not real. What makes it matter is when it is the single factor that drives how people choose to treat each of us and promote – whether socially, professionally or personally – each of us.

Pause for a moment and ask yourself ‘how many other ways might this be a valid perspective?’

I ask that you consider this: There is no one for whom it DOESN’T matter. Diminishing any of us diminishes all of us.

Here is the link to Mr. Peterson’s talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5GCetbP7Fg