Every morning, before I've even had a chance to convince myself to get out of bed, social media is already yelling.
A racist customer.
A racist cop.
A racist teacher.
A racist company.
A racist neighbor.
A racist cashier who allegedly looked at someone for 1.7 seconds too long.
Some of these stories are absolutely real. Some expose behavior that deserves attention. Some uncover problems that need to be addressed. But somewhere along the line, outrage stopped being the exception and became the business model.
And that's exhausting.
As a Black person, I'm tired of opening my phone and feeling like the internet wants to remind me every single day that somebody somewhere hates me. Whether the story is accurate, exaggerated, missing context, or eventually proven false barely matters by the time it reaches millions of people. The emotional effect is already there.
After a while, you start wondering if the world is actually getting worse, or if algorithms have simply figured out that fear and anger keep us scrolling.
Here's the uncomfortable truth: if your news feed convinces you that racial conflict is happening around every corner, you're going to start seeing racial conflict around every corner.
That isn't healthy. It's also unfair.
Most white people aren't racists. Most Black people aren't walking around expecting racism from every person they meet. Most people are simply trying to get through work, pay bills, raise kids, and figure out why eggs suddenly cost as much as a car payment.
Yet social media rarely rewards ordinary interactions. Nobody posts, "500 people treated me with kindness today."
Instead, we amplify the one awful encounter because outrage gets clicks, comments, shares, and ad revenue. Decency doesn't trend.
There's another side to this that doesn't get discussed enough.
Imagine being a white person who doesn't have a prejudiced bone in your body, yet every day you're confronted with headlines that imply your race needs to answer for the actions of someone you've never met.
That has to be exhausting too.
It creates a conversation where people stop listening because they're already preparing their defense.
Meanwhile, the actual racists, who make up a tiny fraction of the population, get far more influence than they deserve because we hand them the microphone every single day.
We should absolutely call out genuine racism.
We should absolutely seek justice when people are treated unfairly.
But we don't have to build an entire culture around hunting for the next racial controversy before we've even finished discussing or resolving the last one.
Constant outrage has consequences.
- It increases anxiety.
- It fuels suspicion.
- It makes neighbors view one another through stereotypes instead of shared experiences.
Worst of all, it convinces people that progress is impossible, even when history shows we've come much farther than many are willing to admit.
The goal shouldn't be pretending racism doesn't exist.
The goal should be refusing to let racism become the lens through which we interpret every interaction.
Because if every disagreement becomes racism...
If every misunderstanding becomes discrimination...
If every headline becomes another reminder that America is hopelessly divided...
Then the people making money from our anger have already won.
Sometimes common sense means acknowledging that a problem exists without allowing it to consume your identity. I'm not saying that we need fewer conversations about race. Maybe we just need more honest ones.
The kind that don't begin with outrage and don't end with everyone hating each other just a little bit more.
