December 14, 2024- Caitlin Clark, a White woman who some other White women love to hate, commented on her own selection as Athlete of the Year, pointing out that much of her success in life has come from having enjoyed privilege. This stung both those who themselves enjoy semi-royal perks and those who have struggled to so much as put food on the table. I don’t know Caitlin Clark, or any other professional athlete, for that matter, but I do know White people who enjoy privilege and several who do not. I, myself, have been in both categories, at different times in my life-enough to know that one can be traded for the other, at a moment’s notice.

To her credit, Ms. Clark calls on the public to show respect for the many athletes of colour who have built her League-the WBNA. This, too, has offended those who still don’t see beyond their own narrow circumstances. More’s the pity. My life has been made all the richer, by having people of all “colours” and ethnicities in my life. Not all of them have been friendly, but each has imparted an opportunity for me to build personal strength.

I see the entitled ones, each day. Some are White; some are people of colour. They tend to not want to have much to do with people like me, and that’s okay. I look in their eyes and see deadness, shadow. My friends are those whose eyes and faces radiate emotion-mostly caring, joie de vivre. The entitled ones radiate nothing. Their whole being is transactional and they only associate with those from whom they can derive benefit. The rest of us are seen as impediments.

My people are those whom the wirepullers and elitists have trampled, or have deluded into doing the trampling for them. My people are those who have struggled, and yet they keep on trying. They either have transcended the lie, or will transcend it. It has nothing to do with income level, or race, mind you. I know of at least one person of colour, here in Prescott, who only associates with the elites. I know many White people of achievement, including in my own family, who would give the shirts off their backs to the suffering. It is about character, and nothing else.

The vast majority of those I have met, are my people. I kind of think that Caitlin Clark would be one of them.