She Is A Racist

I went to a sporting event this weekend and had an interesting thing occur. Okay, maybe it was not interesting but it was eye opening. I first need to explain that there is a breed of woman in the town I live in (and getting ready to leave) that all look alike. These women all tan their skin to the exact same shade, bleach their hair to the same color and then wear clothes that seem to be a uniform because they all look the same. The town is an affluent city and these women actually have the money to have an individualistic looks if they wished.

I was standing waiting for a friend that I was to meet and there were several other people waiting for one reason or the other as well. Most of the people waiting were either children or the freaky women that all look alike standing together. Being a guy I looked around and found the only other adult male in the group so I struck up a conversation with him. We basically talked guy stuff and we were passing the time in a nice manner. He had his son with him who was 5 years old. Guys do actually talk about our kids and he knows all about Alexis and I now know all about his boy.

He started telling me that his son had discovered G.I. Joe recently and was so enthralled with the idea of an American soldier saving the world that he was finding evil doers everywhere. We laughed about it remembering when we were boys and how we were sure that we could save the world as well. His son was running around in circles acting out the hero part and then his dad told him to slow down. The boy came to a complete stop, put his hand on his chest and recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

This caught me by surprise and the dad explained that he discovered that his son so wanted to be the All American Hero when he grew up that he could get his son to settle down and get him to stop and recite the Pledge by telling him that is what American Heroes do. I remember when I was his age and I think the only thing that could have slowed me down was if a brick had been thrown at me. (if you know my mother you should tell her how sorry you are for her to have raised me and my brothers)

The dad was smiling because he had figured out a great way to control a 5 year old and I was bragging to him how inventive the idea was. The dad went on a little about how great his son was and I told him "It must be great to have an all American boy". The chatty women went into silence with one even made a strange grunting sound. I looked around to see what had happened and several of the women were glaring at me. One of the women who all look alike motioned for me frantically to come over to her. I excused myself from the proud father and walked over to the women.

She tore into me for calling that child a boy. She said "It is not right to call an African-American, boy". I thought she must be joking and I started laughing, I understood calling ANY man "boy" could be degrading and it was especially derogatory to call a black man boy but I called a boy a boy. She went on to tell me that it was showing all of them that I hated black people and they were not going to take it.

The strange thing seemed to me was that I had been the only one talking to the black man while they were all huddled in a corner. I, being my egotistical arrogant self asked directly why they had not been friendly with the black people. The answer surprised me but it should not have. She said "If I talked to that man his child might think that it was ok to play with my girl". I actually found that funny on so many levels that I burst out laughing. My new dad acquaintance came over to see what I was laughing about and so I told him in front of the women.

As soon as the women heard what I was doing they all grabbed their stuff and kids and started off with a couple of the women saying things such as "that man is a racist" while pointing at me as I was talking to a black man. This town is considered a "white" town and by far most of the people are not racist but I do wonder now if the tan, bleached hair, and certain clothes are not just the new white hooded robes of times past.

Talk about burning bridges, I am not sure I will be welcomed back to my current home town for a long time. Well, I at least will not be welcomed back by the women who all look alike.