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So, why are American politics at a place where white people can use black people to justify their own racist hatred of black people? And is it even possible as black people to articulate critiques of other black folks in ways that won't be manipulated by mass media on the left and on the right, to the ultimate detriment of us all? Are the media and the white American public really interested in preventing HIV infections among black women and challenging homophobia? Or are they interested in salacious tales of black sexual pathology? Is the white left really interested in my analysis of your political legacy? Or are they interested in witnessing a black man publicly denigrate a black woman?

And now that I understood that this was the game I was supposed to play, I could not bring myself to do it. Not in Denver, and not in this letter. I didn't give them what they wanted. As they paused, eagerly wondering if I would take the bait, I calmly stated, 'While I disagree with most of her choices politically and personally, I also understand that America offers black people very few options, and she has chosen one of the few options we have to ensure her personal survival. What other options has America offered a genius black girl born in 1950s Birmingham, Alabama?'

And it is this question that brought to bear the reality of my own life, my own situation, and how strangely similar it is to yours. Among other similarities, we were both 'smart black kids.'

Now, there are many smart black kids in and out of American public schools. But you get designated a 'smart black kid' not only because you show some signs of above-average intelligence, but also because you also know how to obey. You know as well as I do that there are many black children who are highly intelligent but don't play the game well or at all. The prisons and the grave are full of smart black people who either didn't know how or flat out refused to 'behave' in a system that is designed to physically or symbolically isolate the smartest and most well behaved and let the rest sink or swim. If you are termed the 'smart black kid,' doors open for you, teachers and principals and guidance counselors work to see that you have every opportunity to succeed. I was tracked into the honors program and then encouraged to attend private school through the A Better Chance program and my own mother's tenacity and ingenuity. You must have skipped several grades to graduate from high school at age 15. And I know from reading your biography that you also were very 'obedient' and had the support of nearly all the teachers you came across, both in Birmingham and later in Denver, where your family moved when you were 13.

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