Race, privilege and intimidation

I am a diminutive 62-year-old white woman. I have a homemade "Black Lives Matter TOO" sign on my car's backseat window. Within two weeks, I have been screamed at by two 40ish white males.

The first time, I was just pulling out of my parking spot when the man started jumping up and down, waving his arms and yelling. One minute later, he pulled up very close to my car at the stoplight, rolled down his window and started screaming at me. I flashed him the peace sign and he responded with a middle finger.

Last week, as I pulled into a parking spot, 50 feet away, a man who was waiting in a car with his family for a pizza pickup honked at me, lowered his window, put his arm out, thumb down, yelling, "All lives matter! Don't you get it?" This continued for several minutes. After exiting my car and entering the place for my appointment, he pulled in front and he rolled down his other window and continued to yell at me. Needless to say, I was quite unnerved and was fearful that he would return.

If I, as a white woman sitting in a world of white privilege can be threatened and intimidated for supporting equality, I can only imagine what my brothers and sisters of color have had to deal with all of their lives. My sign didn't say Black Lives Better. It said, Black Lives Matter.

That some white men are so threatened by a sign and take it upon themselves to bully me speaks for itself. If I had not been so terrified, I would have told them that I agree that all lives matter. Just like all houses matter. But it's the Black houses that are on fire.

Kay Lewis

Deer Park