Black In America.

A young black woman cried in my first day of Race, Gender & The Media class.

It was a young black woman with long lashes and short hair seated in the front row.

I'd heard from previous students that this was easily something that could happen. (Heated debates and arguments is another issue that others promise will crop up.) Also, Dr. Everbach warned us at the beginning of class that tears were likely to happen as it happened just about every semester of the class.

We'd just finished viewing Vice's Charlottesville: Race And Terror, which gave an in-depth close-up of the recent "Unite The Right" rally held last month in Charlottesville, Virginia. VICE News Tonight Correspondent Elle Reeve - a blonde-haired white woman wearing hipster looking metal framed glasses - took a camera guy to the march where she interviewed several of top white nationalists, alt-righters and neo-Nazis. It was scary watching people spew so many hateful words and thoughts in regards to race and what they believe the future of America to look like.

I'd previously watched the video on my own when it was released and, from a journalistic standpoint, thought it to be extremely interesting. I think that the correspondent, Elle, asked some great questions and I applauded her bravery for inserting herself in the middle of those crazies to get the story. I feel like, at the end of the day, this is what journalism is all about.

However, as a black woman, I found the whole thing to be super sad and disturbing. So, when that student began crying in class, I felt her pain. She said that people may not like the content of the video, but for her it was all about her skin color. It's not as if you can change the skin color you are born with. She was (rightly) afraid for her life and the rest of black America and - on most days - I feel the exact same way. I worry about not just myself, but more so for my beautiful son. I want to protect him from all of the hate in the world, but I know that's just something that I can't realistically do. It saddens me to know that he - along with the rest of the black people that I know - will forever have a hard time existing in this country as long as racists like those shown in the Vice documentary are alive.