This reflection was originally posted on December 26, 2014.

Hello. I would like to take this opportunity to talk to those of you who think there is a war on Christmas. I understand that you’re angry. I understand that you feel like there are many reasons to be angry. Christmas is understandably a large part of your identity and I understand why you believe part of your identity is under assault.

Now here’s a thing: Imagine that everybody that you encountered even once knew that you celebrated Christmas. Imagine that this knowledge made them either subconsciously afraid or hateful. Imagine that this includes people you are always told to trust—people in positions of power in your life. The majority of cultural outputs either unintentionally or intentionally fuel this distrust of Christmas, but it’s subtle enough that most people you know vehemently deny that such a problem exists, and they think you might be a little unhinged to believe that there is a problem.

Now imagine that you have no choice but to continue celebrating Christmas, and any children you have would be the same way. This is probably not difficult to contemplate. However, you would be raising them in a society that treats them as second-class regardless of whatever else they do.

Can you imagine that? Great. Now you have a little bit of an idea of how it feels to be Black in 2014.