Racism or Ignorance?

Was it racism?

Was it ignorance?

A Chinese man once ran his index finger down my forearm on a public bus and stared at it—checking to see if the color would come off.

No warning.

No words.

No permission.

Just curiosity… or something darker.

My amygdala fired instantly.

Fight-or-flight flooded my bloodstream.

Adrenaline surged.

But nothing happened.

Because survival doesn’t belong to the loudest emotion.

It belongs to the most aware mind in the room.

Context Is King (And Emotion Is a Terrible Strategist)

Let’s zoom out.

I’m in China.

A country of nearly 2 billion people.

Foreigners are rare.

Black foreigners? Even rarer.

This wasn’t Times Square.

This wasn’t Toronto.

This wasn’t LA.

This was his environment—not mine.

I was a massive Black man, 265 pounds, about 10% body fat, sitting on the back of a nearly empty bus with an older Chinese gentleman who likely had never interacted with a Black person up close.

If I explode emotionally, what happens next?

Who defends me?

Who interprets my anger correctly?

Who translates nuance?

No one.

That’s not submission.

That’s situational intelligence.

The Brain Made the Decision—Not the Ego

Here’s where neuroscience matters.

The primitive brain wants dominance.

The evolved brain wants outcomes.

So instead of reacting, I mirrored him.

I smiled.

I took his forearm.

I ran my finger down his skin.

I checked.

He smiled back.

And just like that—

Threat dissolved.

Curiosity neutralized.

Tension collapsed.

Mirror neurons did their job.

Social threat converted into social symmetry.

That wasn’t weakness.

That was neural jiu-jitsu.

Racism or Ignorance? The Wrong Question.

The real question is:

What serves me in this moment?

If it was racism—

Who do I report it to?

What system corrects it instantly?

What outcome improves my life?

None.

If it was ignorance—

Then education happened without words.

Either way, my feelings weren’t the priority.

My safety, livelihood, and long-term position were.

That’s not cowardice.

That’s executive function under stress.

Traveling the World Teaches You One Brutal Truth

I’ve been the only Black man in rooms across:

Spain, Italy, Greece, France, China, Taiwan to name a few.

When you travel long enough, you learn:

You are not always protected by your intentions.

You are protected by your awareness.

I was employed.

I had responsibilities.

I had a reputation.

One emotional outburst could erase everything.

So no—I didn’t “stand up for myself” in the Hollywood sense.

I stood up for my future.

This Isn’t Submission. This Is Mastery.

Submission is unconscious compliance.

What I practiced was adaptive dominance—

Knowing when to assert.

Knowing when to absorb.

Knowing when to redirect energy instead of colliding with it.

That level of consciousness wasn’t accidental.

It was my coping mechanism.

My travel survival system.

My edge.

Because when you’re outnumbered, misunderstood, and physically imposing,

your mind must be sharper than your muscles.

Final Thought

Was it racism?

Maybe.

Was it ignorance?

Probably.

But here’s the real takeaway:

Your nervous system doesn’t care about ideology.

It cares about survival and trajectory.

I chose trajectory.

And that decision—

That calm—

That awareness—

Has kept me alive, employed, respected, and moving forward across the world.

Sometimes the most powerful move

isn’t reaction.

It’s restraint with intent.

—

Michael Kennedy

Athletic Entrepreneur

Neuroscience. Survival. Global Awareness.

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