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When people think of Boston, they think of a milky-white city, but remember that there are always two Americas.

The year before I started middle school, a boy was shot because he wouldn’t give up his sneakers. I’m proud of where I’m from, but it can be a very rough place. It’s the same neighborhood Bobby Brown is from, and NBA point guard Shabazz Napier. It’s the same neighborhood Malcolm X lived in. A Black person is angry, but she is also resigned because she has spent all her life living in a space she has had no input in shaping. A white person’s anger is, “This is not the world I want to live in.” A Black person’s anger is, “Alas, this is one more fucked-up reality I have to face.” They’re two different sentiments. Black people, generally, live in a world created for them. White people, generally, get to live in a world they created. Why am I not riled up? I’ve thought and thought about it and could only come up with one reason: because I’m Black. Why is this? I’ve thought about it a lot. But at my job, white people are more likely to denounce Trump than Black people are. The Black people I know are angry too, but in general not as angry as the whites. White people-the ones who didn’t vote for him-are angry about Trump. I tell myself, If they ask me about so-and-so, I will simply say, “Who is that?” During the primaries, my acquaintances drop the names of candidates and often I pray they don’t ask my opinion. I know who Bernie Sanders is, but not when I should have. I know who Elizabeth Warren is, but not when I should have, and still her face is blurry to me. I don’t know what Dick Cheney looks like.

I didn’t know the New York governor’s voice until I heard him talking about school closures. I didn’t know what Mike Pence looked like until the vice presidential debate. Smart people are supposed to care about politics. I pretend because I’m a teacher and a writer and that means I’m supposed to be smart. Generally, I see people get angry and I think, Why can’t I get that angry? I don’t like to write about politics because I don’t care about politics.