The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines empathy in plain language. The word empathy is a noun. It means “the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another.”

Let me bring this definition to a street level. In other words, you need to be me to see me. To fully embrace my hurt, you must be put into the dirt. I did not ask you to sympathize; I asked you to empathize. Empathy and sympathy are the same – but also different.


Having said that, I want you to take a little trip with me. An empathic journey, if you will. The transdimensional portal will open in just a minute. A parallel universe awaits us. Everything there is as it is here with four exceptions: [1] all White Americans here and now are Black Americans there and then – and vice versa; [2] everyone in this alternate timeline of America who is a Democrat here is actually a Republican in the specific timeline of America that I’m referring to – and vice versa; [3] rich folks here and now are poor there and then – and vice versa; and [4] North is South – and vice versa. Please cast your gaze upon a unique dimension of the space/time continuum. I call this unique sliver of the multiverse 50 shades of black.

Stand right next to me. I’ll keep you safe.

Now open your eyes. Take a look around.

What if history books in postmodern schools here were intentionally written by proponents of Black superiority so that the countless contributions made historically by White Americans would not be taught to White students in elementary, middle, and secondary schools in America? If you were White and watching your children being denied knowledge of their own cultural heritage, would you remain silent? What if critical race theory was all about the hypothetical “wokeness” of White people?

What if America’s founding fathers here had all been Black? What if the cancerous blight of slavery had been inflicted upon Anglo-Saxon citizens who had been stolen from their native land (England) – and robbed of their language, culture, and system of faith in the process? What if those same Black founding fathers – long revered as beacons of tolerance and vision who apparently took turns walking on water during their lives – owned White slaves themselves? As a White American citizen, how fond would you be of the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and/or the U.S. Constitution? How would you feel if our duly-elected Senators and Congressmen – the vast majority of which were Black – went out of their way to make it difficult for women, minorities (especially White folks), and young people to vote? Would you be motivated to protest, march, and rally to effect change? I suspect so.

What if Barry Odom was the first White President in this nation’s history? What if the Democrats constantly called President Odom a communist, Buddhist, fascist, socialist, racist, apologist, and other names too abhorrent for print? What if that American President’s faith in God, love of America, and legitimacy as the leader of the free world were repeatedly called into question?

What if this Democratic Party – once the political party of inclusion, integration, and innovation – denied its proud history to focus on being the party of demonization, despair, and denial? What if America’s White citizens were regularly called takers, users, and other racially insensitive names by the Democrats/Dixiecrats? What if the primary goals of the Republican party were preserving democracy and the rule of law?

Pay attention. I’m going somewhere with this.

What if the conceit of Black privilege had Black Americans mostly convinced that theirs was the right to say anything to anybody anywhere at any time with no consequences and no fear whatsoever of being put in check? What if White Americans wanted and needed reparations for the wrongs done to them – and Black Americans rolled their eyes as they steadfastly refused to even consider such a conversation?

What if White people here couldn’t breathe? What if Black police officers throughout America actively displayed the propensity to harass, stop-and-frisk, and arrest unarmed White guys without cause? What if every time you turned around, yet another unarmed White man was being shot dead by members of law enforcement at what should have been a routine traffic stop? If Black women of various ages and socioeconomic levels applied death grips to their own purses whenever your White son happened to share an elevator in a public place with them, wouldn’t you be angry? What if whenever a young White woman disappeared in America, no one in law enforcement or the media or pretty much anyone not related to her cared? Empathize.

What if White History Month here was every February? What if Historically White Colleges and Universities (HWCUs) were still necessary as a legacy of the dark days when White students – however gifted – were legally prohibited from being educated at all? What if the PBCUs – Predominantly Black Colleges and Universities – like Morehouse University in Atlanta or the Florida Agricultural and Mechanic University in Tallahassee – required the federal intervention of the American government and numerous class action lawsuits so that White undergraduate and graduate schools to be allowed to matriculate there? Keep calm and empathize.

What if the perversities that took place in Tulsa and Tuskegee were the direct results of villainy waged by jealous, resentful Black people against innocent, productive White people? What if the Civil Rights Movement here took place so that this allegedly great nation would at long last grant full citizenship rights to White Americans? What if Presidents Kennedy and Johnson – African American Presidents who risked everything politically – worked with Dr. Marty King, a white pastor and professor, to help facilitate the United States forming a more perfect union? After all, since Black is beautiful, wouldn’t White be wonderful? White lives matter, also. Are you empathizing yet?

What if 1% of Black Americans here owned 50% of America’s wealth? Would the terms “wealth redistribution” and/or “living wage” still offend you? Yes, no, maybe so?

What if brown-skinned women with dark brown eyes and natural black hair were the globally accepted standard of beauty? What if curvy and thicc (deliberately misspelled), not thin, was in? Empathy, por favor.

What if America’s prison population was made up mostly of White men who could not vote, secure employment, or re-integrate into society after their release from prison? Would our White brothers in Christ be labeled as the rightful victims of poor choices and/or takers? Would they be demonized as menaces to society? Empathy requested.

What if majority White nations on this planet were publicly called shithole countries by rich and powerful Black Americans?

What if too many homes in too many neighborhoods in too many American towns and cities displayed flags and banners extolling the virtues of Black supremacy? And what if the Black Americans who proudly displayed those flags and banners used feelings of pride in the heritage of their ancestors as the excuse? Don’t tread on us. Right on.

What if Black people in America were de facto vultures of culture – dressing like acting like, speaking like, singing like, and engaging in every conceivable act of appropriation imaginable against White Americans every single day?

The portal has reopened. It’s time for us to go home. And… we are back!

In dimensions imagined or real, people are people. We love and hate, rise and fall, live and die. Individually and collectively, we are powerful yet powerless; righteous yet unrighteous; selfless yet selfish.

God grants us his unmerited grace and favor, but we refuse to extend grace to each other. When will we learn? Will we ever learn?

Just because it is White does not make it right. And just because it is Black does not mean that it lacks.

Empathy and sympathy are the same – but also different. Merriam-Webster defines sympathy to mean “unity or harmony in action or effect.” Ideally, you need empathy and sympathy. In the immortal words of Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock, “It takes two to make a thing go right. It takes two to make it out of sight.” Without both empathy and sympathy, there can be no emancipation.

Significant self-diagnosis is needed throughout our nation. We all need to spend time in mediation and reconciliation. Perhaps we all should reexamine what true diversity and legitimate empathy look like and feel like. Until and unless we do so, our own hearts will remain 50 shades of black.