For the African-Americans reading this title, they will immediately know what it means. For those who are not and do not know, it is important that you do know. The best description of what it is can be found at the end of the most recent broadcast on HBO of “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.” This show focuses on the impact on sports and society of COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter racial injustice protests. A link to his description is below.
For those who do not know who Bryant Gumbel is, he is a long time news and sports reporter who is also a Black man. For a few years, he left sports to host NBC’s “Today Show,” but returned to his roots of reporting on sports. I find his show to be the best sports commentary show around because he and other talented reporters do deep dives on the stories. To be frank, the sport is secondary to the human interest story.
This show is no exception. At the end of the show, Gumbel updates a real life shooting of a promising baseball talent named Robbie Tolan, the son of former major league player, Bobby Tolan. He was shot in his front yard after an office accosted his mother over the belief the car parked out front was stolen. It turned out the officer entered one digit wrong on the license tag number. The mother was in her pajamas at 11 pm. The son said loudly take your hands off my mother and the officer turned and shot. No warning. He just shot.
The young man survived after months of hard recovery, but Tolan’s dream of a baseball future would not come true. The police officer was acquitted of any crime, returned to the force and later received a promotion. Tolan has written a book about his travails called “No Justice: one white police officer, one black family.”
Then, Gumbel told us about the Black Tax. It not monetary – it is a burden that is paid everyday. It is the daily burden of being treated as an unequal citizen. It is the daily burden of worrying about the life of yourself, your kids and your grandkids. It is the burden of being pulled over or accosted by police officers for being Black like the suspect they believe you are. It is the burden of being considered less able for a position you are applying for. It is the burden of having to check your response to obvious racial denigration. It is the burden of having to suffer people saying something that would not be said to a white person, “you are a credit to your race.”
Gumbel concludes by saying it is exhausting to have to carry this burden. It is bothersome that we have not resolved to fully deal with the racial injustice. Black lives matters is more than just a slogan. It is a hope for equal footing.
https://people.com/tv/bryant-gumbel-explains-black-tax-hbo-real-sports/
musingsofanoldfart 
A fearful way to have to live. One which is rife throughout the world. Starker in the USA because of a claim to being an enlightened democracy, which at one stage it was on its way to being. Sadly, somewhere along the way progress stalled and backtracked.
Roger, true. When so-called leaders resort to division to get elected, they are both a symptom and a cause. Trump did not create divisiveness, he just wields it like a weapon. Keith
And with all finesse of a drunken butcher as opposed to an astute operator of the sort very common in the Renaissance City-State Italy.
Roger, a “drunken butcher?” Is he the one with eight and 1/2 fingers? Keith
This is beautifully done — and timely. It helps us grasp more clearly just what the phrase “Black Lives Matter” means. Often such phrases lose meaning after time.
Thanks Hugh. It is a needed lens for white people to look through. Keith
Thanks for the excellent post, Keith. I have been enlightened. As the Black Lives Matter movement is thriving in Canada, there has also been a spotlight cast upon the terrible injustices suffered by our Indigenous peoples now and in the past. I have not heard much about tackling systemic racism aimed at your Indigenous peoples in America. Hopefully, our countries will reinvent themselves as a result of the protests.
John, thanks for sharing the similar issue of persecution of the indigenous people. Fear of others has been a horrible motivator for keeping people down. It is debilitating to the victims and has to be cultivated by the persecutors to pass along the racism to their kids. Keith