Ah, yes. My favorite topic has come to light again: racism in America. It has been more prevalent nowadays, given the recent events in the media and around the country. It seems like people, particularly white people, still just don't get it. Trying to play the part of a person of color has not and never will be okay, no matter what time period you're living in. And I'm going to tell you why, again, it is not going to be tolerated in 2018 and forever.

Dressing up in "blackface," or as NBC talk show host Megyn Kelly put it, "dressing up as a character," is a mockery of African American people and who we are. We are not your Halloween costume, and we are not some character you saw on TV. This is our life, and it pains me so much that people still do not understand the offense to it.

Behind blackface is many many years of clownery and disrespect. From the "mammy" dolls that portrayed extremely large black women with stringy hair, aprons, and bright red lips for children to play with, to the face of Aunt Jemima, whose pancakes and syrup I'm sure you enjoy every Saturday morning. The fact that Ms. Kelly saw a portrayal of my skin color as "okay," just shows you that you have no regard for who I am as a black person. And it even goes beyond this, when people dress up at Native American Indians or wear Day of the Dead costumes.

You are taking not only someone's culture, but their identity, and you're making a plaything out of it.

When it comes to being black, you have to deal with the ongoing oppression of your people in every aspect of your life. Not just for one day, but forever. So when you want to "be black" on Halloween, do you also want to be gunned down for the color of your skin? Or maybe watched in the store because you're "prone to steal?"

Take your pick--or as a matter of fact, you can't. You get it all when you're black.