The fact that non Black people don't know anything about sundown towns is an example of DuBois' double consciousness. Black folks *have* to know these towns exist. Here's an example. My Dad was going down south to visit family I asked if I could come. He said no...

He said that he needed to make a "quick" trip. I was disappointed, but understood. What he meant was unlike him, I couldn't pass for white. Being in the car would give him away. He was going the quick way, the white way. No time to take the long and safe way. So, I stayed home.

He didn't have to explain it. He just said "quick". I knew what that meant. No one in my life ever had to teach me. I had a million stories from relatives. A million silent trailing looks on road trips. I driven across America *a lot*. When I say, "Not here" you better listen.

Black people have an entire world filled with words, looks, glances, codes, knowledge, and selves. We inhabit two worlds at all times. Imagine coming home and taking off the self palatable to your oppressor. Imagine having a whole self concocted to survive. It's exhausting.

And there's levels to that self. My father could pass for white, and so sometimes white people believed he was Italian or Latinx. If it meant they didn't try and kill him? He passed. Imagine having to look your kid in the face and tell them their existence is a liability.

My Dad was the only white passing member of his family. He had the privilege of having a whole second separate route. Everyone else had to make sure they took the the right way. Avoided certain places and towns. They had no option. You just drive through the night.