Leslie, thank you for writing a note.

However, because I am in a book club of seven White women, what makes you assume that I don’t know any people of color? If a group of Black women, or men, or kids, met in any context, would you assume that they didn’t know any White people? Surely not here in Montclair.

To know who is in my circle of friends and family, you would have to delve below my skin color and see me as a multidimensional person. That’s how both Blacks and Whites should ideally view one another, right? With openmindedness.

The reason I mentioned we were White women was because I was writing this in the essay: “We six White women on a patio that Saturday knew full well that we could not really understand how it felt to be Black, though we tried mightily. We couldn’t fathom how insidious discrimination and racism were — how prevalent, how sneaky, how cruel.” That was sincere, not just lip service.

I’m trying to hear you, and I wish you could hear that.

Thank you.

Sincerely, Alice