Well said!

What is truly irritating is to hear Trump supporters try to claim that not everything is about race, when everything really is about race.

Everything!

Racism is foundational to this country. I feel that there will never be a post-racial period.

I'm surprised they haven't flooded this thread yet. 4... 3... 2...1...

Racism is institutional and media has perpetuated the racism

All of the studies that show how beauty is perceived, and other aspects that reveal racism.

One bit of anecdotal evidence. Years ago, I was in my home office dealing with a situation. Prior to my meeting, I was speaking to a younger letter carrier from the office, and we were speaking about conditions in the office. At one point, he complained that there were no good looking women in the office.

I gave him 3 or 4 names, and his response was that they were black women. I said I was sorry he was such a racist, and I moved on.

He later apologized, but I feel his apology was tactical.

Multiply that by a million, and this is where we are in 2020 in the US.

Before my eleventh birthday my best friend's mother (who grew up next door to my father) told me I was beautiful. My dad told me the same thing when I was a teenager. That was that. You couldn't tell me otherwise and then along came Mohammad Ali and James Brown. I said it loud - black and proud - black is beautiful.
I have found beauty in every race on the planet. Some of it is physical and others are just beautiful human beings.

Allow me to also say, you are beautiful, Malaise.

Beautiful shines out from the person.

In the case of Trump, what shines out is hate.

My wish for his 74th birthday present (14th June) is a serious dose of Covid-19

Beautiful women exist in every skin color there is. My life has been immeasurably enriched by the appreciation of beauty in all its forms and colors.

But people with racist views can't see that beauty because it doesn't conform to the stiflingly narrow definition of beauty they've chosen to espouse.

They have no idea how much they are denying themselves by their willful blindness...

Racists are blind to so much, but hyper aware of superficialities like pigment.

Decades ago, an eight year old boy asked me why are some people white and some black - I asked him if he ever asked that about flowers or different colors of green on trees. Then I showed him the colors black and white and asked him if he ever saw anyone who was either color. He is now a big man and still reminds me that I changed his thinking on matters race.