White babies do not know they are white.
Black babies do not know they are black.
The eyes and mind of a newborn have no concept of color.

White children do not know they are white.
Black children do not know they are black.
They simply know that one does not look like the other.

White children do not know they are white. Black children learn they are black when a white child tells them they are the color of feces. That black child will, from now on, compare herself to excrement.

White children do not know they are white. Black children know they are black, because their parents had to explain why a white child told them they were the color of feces. The black child now understands that she will be treated differently.

White children learn they are white when they begin to learn about Martin Luther King, as one cannot understand the need for the Civil Rights Movement without understanding what race is. Black children have known they are black. This is when children begin to actively interact with each other through the lens of race, consciously or subconsciously.

White children know they are white. Black children know what it means to be black, because their parent had to explain why the boy who looked like him was shot by a man who was supposed to protect him. They now know there is a fundamental difference between how they will be treated and how a white child will be treated, and it does not rely on individual prejudices, but something deeper.

White teenagers know they are white. Black teenagers understand what it means to be black. White teenagers will operate within their privilege, either not knowing or caring that it is privilege, while black teenagers are already working harder to get the same things a white teenager is guaranteed.

White adults know they are white.
Black adults understand what it means to be black.
There is a difference.
One was simply taught by coincidence.
The other had to learn for their own survival.