I recently made a new acquaintance. He is a senior instructor at one of America’s Army Senior Service Schools. He is a retired Army Colonel of the Military Police Corps. He also happens to be a black man. In this piece, I’ll refer to him as “DW.”

Yesterday DW posted an article on Facebook from CNN, excoriating Representative Mark Meadows for allegedly using a black woman as a “prop” to defend against accusations of racism. From the article,

One of those moments came when Rep. Mark Meadows, a North Carolina Republican, asked a black woman who worked for the Trump administration to help him rebut Cohen’s allegations that President Trump was racist. The woman, Lynne Patton, stood silently next to Meadows as the lawmaker told Cohen: “You made some very demeaning comments about the President that Ms. Patton doesn’t agree with. In fact, it has to do with your claim of racism,” Meadows says. “She says that as a daughter of a man born in Birmingham, Alabama, that there is no way that she would work for an individual who was racist. How do you reconcile the two of

Also from the article,

“We’d like to think the days of white people trotting out their black friends to disprove their racism are over. But we saw a sequel to this scene Wednesday during a series of extraordinary moments at Michael Cohen’s hearing that illustrate how bad habits die hard.”

I have a few questions. As a member of demographic quite often accused of racism today: old, fat, white dude, just how am I supposed to prove a negative? The mother of my children is known as an “indio,” in her country of origin. The godparents of my oldest daughter are black, the godfather half, being a dead ringer for Michael Jordan, except he can’t shoot hoops worth a damn. One of my personal attorneys is a black male and the other is a lesbian— I guess, just so I can check another diversity block. I have black friends and relatives, all of whom I’d jump on a grenade for.

My new friend, along with many in the black community would have us believe that those facts above prove nothing. I would agree, they don’t prove anything. However, I disagree that they should be discounted or even worse, the act of pointing them out, being called racist in and of itself. Evidence is evidence. I would like to believe that if you piled up the evidence of my life, it would clearly show that this particular old, fat white dude, doesn’t have a racist bone in his body. But if the above evidence is to be discounted, what does count?

Who gets to decide what’s “racist?” Are white people the only folks who can be racist? Are blacks the only race that gets to decide what or who is racist? Is it possible for a “person of color,” to harbor racist ideas towards whites?

As a fat, old, white dude, now living in Alabama, should I have to prove I’m not racist? If so, by what means? Do I have to join the Democrat party, arguably the party of historical and ongoing racism? Would I have to have a photo of me along with MLK on the Pettus bridge? Do I have to become a member of the NAACP? I’d gladly join—and I’d be in good company, Dr Martin Luther King & Charlton Heston, what a pair! But, would any of those things prove anything?

If even after doing all the above, if I voted against a politician who happens to be black or against another bureaucrat-fed, social giveaway of tax dollars, am I once again cast into the “racist” pile? Would (and this actually happened to me) I be accused of being a racist, because…wait for it…the percentage of my black Facebook friends was well below the 13 percent that make up that particular American demographic?

What about my opinion on these things? What about my opinion that might be along the lines of; Is not making everything about race, racist? I believe my new friend is a straight shooter and certainly not a race baiter. I do however, think making everything about race, only enables the race hustlers like Al Sharpton and does little to ensure a clear, clean dialogue between opposing views.

Just as I was wrapping up this article, DW, once again

proving he’s indeed a straight shooter and willing to engage on all sides, posted this graphic (source unverified) which says in one picture, what I rambled on for “a thousand words.”

Please provide feedback below in the comments. Failure to talk with each other, is often a precursor to shooting at each other.

Mike Ford is a retired Infantry Officer who writes on Military, Foreign Affairs and occasionally dabbles in Political and Economic matters.

Follow him on Twitter: @MikeFor1039458

You can find his other Red State work here.