He is a well-known attorney, author and commentator, but Chappaqua resident Lawrence Otis Graham says that hasn't shielded him or his family from feeling the effects of racism as black people.

Graham has written an article for his alma mater's publication, the "Princeton Alumni Weekly," in which he describes a painful incident that his 15-year-old son experienced at a Connecticut boarding school. "These two adult men asked him, 'Are you the only N-word on this campus?'" Graham recounts to .

Despite all of his accomplishments and those of his family, Graham says he still has to deal with ignorance. "People think that because of privilege or class you are able to buy your way out of discrimination," he says. "But my son knows that when he gets on an elevator that sometimes white women will clutch their purse."

Graham's article is timely, in light of recent racially charged incidents across the country.

"People need to be willing to have a dialogue about race, about class, about ethnicity and discrimination," Graham says. "Because it still exists today."