I was sitting at my desk when a friend called. By friend , I don’t mean a member of that small group of people I speak to every day. I also don’t mean an acquaintance I rarely saw or kept contact with. He was comfortably in that middle group—someone I spoke to about once a month. We met within the last year. There was plenty left to learn about each other. His voice was quieter than usual. Subdued. He said, “Are you okay? I’m just calling to check in on you.” I had no idea what he was talking about. My last few weeks had been uneventful. It was summertime, so work was quiet. And I hadn’t shared anything with anyone that could’ve been misinterpreted as me having a hard time, so this question should not have been the first thing I heard when I picked up the phone. Perhaps he called the wrong person. I said, “Yeah. Why do you ask?” “I just heard about what happened.” It was 2016. He was talking about Philando Castile, who had just been killed by a police officer in his car in … [Read more...] about On Being an Ally