Torres: Let's not pretend race still isn't an issue

I'm a young black man living in America in 2015 and I'm confused and slightly annoyed. I'm confused because it seems like everyone is fighting and I can't keep up.

I'm slightly annoyed because I have to pretend that being black in America doesn't make me feel like Will Smith in the "Enemy of the State" movie.

Let's address being confused first. As we all know, social media has given us all a voice at every second of every day (which has its pros and cons, like everything else in the world) and it's been getting really hard to focus on what the actual problems are.

When a crisis happens, it hits the news in a few hours and appears on respected websites shortly after. Within that first 24 hours we are bombarded with think pieces (fact or fiction) and millions of opinions, most which target you directly if you have given your own opinion, and of course, the ever-reliable conspiracy theories.

Supporting one cause has turned into being inconsiderate of someone else's plight, and while this fight ensues it seems no one remembers what they started talking about in the first place. Nothing gets solved and we move on to the next pressing topic of the moment.

I find myself slightly annoyed because as a black man in America, I sit on one side of this argument and sometimes I feel too uncomfortable to speak about it -- whether it's someone who looks like me being portrayed wrongly in the media, or being told I'm "not black" because of the way I speak, or not "black enough" because of that same reason.

Let's not mention that I can't have an opinion at all about how I or anyone else who looks like me is treated without being accused of playing the "race card." I feel like I'm watching someone I love get robbed in front of a police officer and as I report it, I'm being told that I didn't see what I saw and to go home and to not speak about it again.

I had to read that more than 50 percent of a poll taken in Macon thought that it was OK to wear "black face" for Halloween. It's a holiday that's meant for you to dress up in costumes -- animals, superheroes, sexy nurses -- and people think it's OK to dress up as a particular race for the day.

I'm not saying that we all don't have problems of our own no matter our race, social orientation or place on the map. I ask if empathy has gone completely out the window?

Have we all been swindled by too much unlimited information that we can't possibly believe anyone else's issues outside of our own viewpoint?

Are we seriously going to pretend that race isn't still an issue in this country? Does it really hurt you that a person supports an issue without going full throttle with yours at the same time? Where is the balance?

I don't have the answers, but I do know this: This country needs to stop shouting, shut up and look around. Maybe in this moment of silence, we'll get our wits back and actually get something positive done. You can call this a "rant" if you like.

Sincerely, a confused and slightly annoyed black man living in America.

Floco Torres is an artist/songwriter. Contact him at flocotorres@gmail.com.

This story was originally published November 20, 2015 at 9:17 AM with the headline "Torres: Let's not pretend race still isn't an issue ."