Ebony and Ivory
Not sure how many of you remember the Stevie Wonder/Paul McCartney classic, so I may be telling my age once again LOL (btw, the parody by Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo is hilarious). The topic of skin color is never going to go away, especially with the upcoming election. I have yet to watch a media report without race being mentioned. I let it be known a few blogs back about who I plan on voting for (please ignore the name on the right of my bikini LOL). Of course I had to go out and get a shirt with his picture on it to show my support. Little did I know that shirt would open my eyes to something that I haven't experienced directly in years. Here's my story...
I go into Rite Aid to pick up some things and as I'm walking down one of the aisle's there's this white woman (I'm only adding her color because it's significant to the story) with her leg up on the shelf taking Icy Hot patches out of the pack putting it on her badly bruised leg (that's a different blog lol). As I'm trying to get by her, she's like, Great shirt, we could use some change. I say thanks and proceed to get what I came there for. She starts telling me a story about how she was robbed in LA (no laughing matter) and that her leg had been run over by the robber, again no laughing matter. I told her that was horrible and I hope they catch the guy and thank God that she survived. She tells me it was a big Black guy who robbed her and get's even more descriptive (I'm not going to say too much, I don't want any trouble lol). After she describes him she says, You may know him. I'm like, No, don't think I do. She then says how this Black chick wearing Abercrombie and Fitch was with him and how Blacks don't wear that brand so she should have been leary in the first place, along with a few other stereotypical descriptions.
I was still listening. She hadn't lost me yet. Then she say's she wanted to call him the N word, but she decided "nigrant" would be a better word. I'm sure you all can figure that contraction out without me explaning it. So after that, she lost me and she definitely noticed. She proceeded to say she has nothing against Blacks and then she said the ultimate tagline "I have Black friends". I asked her was she trying to convince me or herself. She asked me would I be scared if a big Black guy approached me at 3 AM in the morning. I told I would be scared if any guy approached me at 3 AM in the morning, most likely I wouldn't be out alone at 3 AM in the morning. A lot of you may be wondering why I even stood there and listened, but in a strange way I felt sorry for her. Her experience is unfortunate as Ed Morrow said, "Everyone is a prisoner of his or her experiences, no one can elimate prejuices, just recognize them". I don't think she recognized it.
As I walked away, I did give her some advice and told her to save her detailed descriptions for the authorities. I definitely made this much longer story short, there's a lot more to it. It really made think, wow, people like her still exist. Some just aren't as blatant. She actually assumed that I knew this guy just based on the fact that he was Black. I think with this election, it's going to get even worse. In my opinion prejudice has a 75/25 split (75% is pure ignorance and 25% is the unknown). Unfortunately, a lot of people use tv, media, etc to form their opinions. Race is such a touchy subject, for the life of me I will never understand how an outer shell can weigh so heavily in society. Prejudice is definitely taught and I'm so thankful to have a mother who raised me with an open mind to love everyone. Whether it's a white snake or a black snake they both bite. With that being said, Have you ever caught yourself grouping a race together ( in some cases your own), based on a bad experience?
"All colors will agree in the dark."-Francis Bacon
"Prejudice squints when it looks and lies when it talks."-Duchess Abrantes
*One more addition to the story above, she intially said she fell off a motorcycle
*Thanks James for the awesome graphic!!!