Deanna, I wish that your response could get upvoted to the top of this thread. Many of us are not from the US and are reading this article with a lot of cultural bias. I think that more people really need to be directed to your response.

I grew up in Northern Ireland during the troubles - a violent time. The police were armed. You were bloody sure you were going to be polite to them. However, I never seriously feared I was going to be harmed by them even if I got caught doing something I shouldn't. Might have got a clout round the ear but the fear that you might get shot? No. Even with everything that went on it still does NOT compare to what black people in the US have to worry about.

I want to say thank you to all the people who gave me positive feedback, but unfortunately I can't continue to be on this site. The last several days have allowed me to see how many people don't understand the situation of being black in America. It is getting very mentally and emotionally stressful for me to keep being told that I don't know what I am talking about and that I am wrong in my opinion. I have lived in this skin color for 34 years and I think I know the experience better than anyone. I have been told that people have gone through these situations regardless of their race and I am looking at it wrong. So again thank you to Loki, Liam, Chancey, and Aragorn; but I can't continue to argue with people who refuse to listen. I am talking to you Truth. I can't believe anyone would be insensitive enough to call the discrimination I have experienced sad and laughable.

I am listening Deanna!!! You are correct, as a white middle class American, my family did not think of these things but we are thinking of them now. I have brought my children up to believe that all people should be treated equally and am proud of the grown ups they have become. But we have never had these things happen to us. Change is coming and people are opening their eyes.

Yeah, y’all, listen to Deanna

deanna, we are listening and we hear you. If staying away from BP means caring for your mental health, please do, but please don't stop using your voice. We need strong black leaders now more than ever.

The first eye opening experience I ever had was flexing my white privilege on behalf of my Filipino boyfriend who had just been pulled over because his "license plate light was out." Shortly after that I was driving some black friends to the store when I got pulled over. Apparently the cop pulled me over because "my license plate light was out, and then he wanted to make sure I was okay. As Joanna put it: "Gurl, he thought we kidnapped yo'white a*s after we jacked you." I cringe every time I think about how clueless I was to the subtext.

Mexicans get called all the time for the newspaper thing also. I dont get why people question someone throwing papers out there vehicle to the point they call cops. Black men get s**t called on them for little to no reason. Guy got called on because it was dark and he had a flashlight in a parking lot. His bike was broke, he was trying to fix it... two good cops lit up the bike with their lights so he could see. White guy wouldn't have never had the pleasure to meet them cuz no call would have been made.

Deanna, I hear you and I agree.... however, yes these are simple rules for everyone. I may be "white" (which I'm not but that's what people SEE me as) but I'm also heavily tattooed so to answer your question has these things happened to you? YES I get followed everywhere I go in stores. I get whispered at. Cops have treated me like a "tweaker" because of my tattoos and some other medical issues that I have. The funny part? I'm friggin in law enforcement. lol. So it happens to more than you just think. Not that it makes it right. The world just sucks now. For real.

I´m so sorry that you and your family had to go through many difficult and unjust instances of racism. Your response is what we all need to hear now. I hope that by educating myself and supporting others, things improve for the black community.

i believe that race should be the last thing to come to mind ever because race is just how we look on the out side i think that police really need to focas on the killers and terrist and rapist rather than saying well i don't like this person cause he\she is black so i'm ganna shoot them

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I can say ive had the police called on me when I had done nothing wrong. Ive had encounters with police where they overreacted. I'm American white (Indian mixed in) and so I find your thinking that only minorities can suffer from bad policing and discrimination laughable . And sad, if I'm honest. Please stop framing your anecdotal experiences as proof of racism and start listening to everyone, not just those you already agree with.

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Um, as a teenager in southern California, I was stopped by local police on my way alone to early mass one Sunday morning. Walking down a residential street. Blonde, blue-eyes, wearing a dress, carrying purse & Bible. Guess it depends on the LEO and his/her feelings of authority?

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Deanna I understand but like 90 % of blacks act so loud and obnoxious. They think the rule don't apply to them. Are very disrespectful. It's not about the color of your skin, it's about the self centered attitude and disrespect for others.

Excellent points. I know when I took my kids to stores when they were little, I told them if they weren't thinking of buying, don't touch. That one is simply being polite. The store workers have to go and straighten shelves. But that, obviously, isn't the reason this mother had to warn her son. But I'm understanding the thought process behind all of this mother's warnings.

I think you missed the point. I had a similar experience. I also had been followed by clerks a few times in my adolescence but it was uncomfortable at most while for black people it might be a life-threatening situation. So the level of discomfort in situations like that is totally different for black people. It's like comparing a pebble in your shoe with having a gun put to your head. I'm a white male BTW.

Thank you for your understanding, Jenny. I am almost in tears right now because I have read the comments from people who say that this is common sense or that she is teaching him to be afraid. That just don't understand what it is like to be a black person in America and I don't think that they want to. So thank you.

I didn't know about the talk more than a year ago but never asked anyone about it. So I took your style and texted my friend Kat to see if she gave it. She did to both her daughters and her son. I asked if it was out of fear that they could be killed. (They dont live in high, not sure what to call it, death rate?) Nope. So I asked then why. She quickly replayed with people are a******s and will try to f**k you up.... so even if death isn't the fear, the fear of just being f****d with is enough for her to give it. I would agree, I wont ever have a talk like that with my sons.

The comments saying it's just common sense somehow sum up what white privilege is, and how difficult it is to recognize it for what it is when you are living it, not looking at it from the outside. Well-meaning, but so besides the point that it becomes infuriating.

"never stare at a Caucasian woman" There are times, especially when you are at a public transport that you just stare off into space but there are some Caucasian people that would take offense, when in reality your just off in your world and all that is, is nothing but a blank stare. Believe me because it's already happened to me. Imagine being yelled at and threatened for day dreaming/thinking. And yes, I got kicked out of the bus by a white bus driver, I was 18 at the time. I was so scared and shocked I really had no idea how I should have reacted. And no, I'm not black I'm Pacific Islander. It happens to people of color so commonly in big cities.

Daria, the first thing it thought after "this is so very sad" is that there is the equivalent for what mothers tell young women to avoid being harassed or worse. And that is so very sad too.

Look up Emmit Till. Do an image search. He was 14 years old and accused of staring at a white woman (who on her death bed admitted to making it up).

You can replace the word stare with look. Black men have been beaten, hanged and set on fire for looking at caucasian woman. Yes, we still caution our kids based on things that happened to our grandfathers because you never know when there will be a resurgence.

Google Emmett Tillet...a young boy who was hanged as a young white girl lied about him. As a result of such old events always happening, some mothers tell their sons to avoid a white women for fear that one day she lies about him and he gets killed....our reasons are not the same to other races, no matter how practical they may seem

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Never stare at a Karen is what it should say