I appreciated how Mr. Smooth compared being a good person, to being clean. It's ongoing. We don't suddenly become a bad person just because we said something offensive racially. But being willing to listen to someone's critique of what we said is important. If we don't listen and instead we are defensive, and think others are looking at us as a bad person we may just give up on trying to be that person that wants to do the right thing. Conversations are really important both with people of other races as well as people of our own race. It's important to find out why others that are similar to us in many ways, don't feel the same as we do about race issues. Mr. Rietz had a great conversation at a rally he protested at when he decided to listen to the other guy who clearly didn't understand why people were still concerned about race. There was understanding more than anger and unacceptance.
