I stop at the Coop to stock up to
get back on the road and return to the Bay when outside, there is a white, straight couple standing
behind my truck taking pictures. As I approached them, the womon began talking
excitedly about my truck. "I LOVE your truck" she gushed. “I made him
pull over so we could read your truck up close and take pictures".
The man rolled his eyes and grumbled
stoically: “Yup. She made me drive across three lanes of traffic to park four
blocks away…”
The womon ignored his comments. “I am
54 years old and I know I have had one of those fortunate american {white}
middle class lives that has been pretty much void of tragedy.”
“Wow, OK,” I raised my eyebrows but
she ignored me and continued, “I know, I know, I’ve been lucky.”
I held my hand up, smiled, before
correcting her. “You’ve been privileged with white skin and the accompanying
wealth.”
“Yes,” she agreed. “I married my
high school sweetheart” she added indicating the older white man standing a few
feet away from her. “I’m still married, no divorce; I’ve raised three children
and they're all alive, no drugs, no jail, no teen pregnancy.”
“I’ve been able to live 50 years
with life's challenges and tragedy-free until now,” she moans, tears swelling
in her eyes.
"The day the supreme court gave
that man the presidency was the first tragedy that ever happened in my
life". Tears began streaming freely down her cheeks. I moved to embrace
her. I could not believe that this woman had managed to escape misfortune for
so long and yet here she was now sharing this tragedy. The two of us sobbed
softly for a moment in each others’ arms. Her voice was full of anguish. She
continued, “And it has been a tragedy for me and for the american public and
the world ever since."
Her voice grew with passion as she recounted
some of the many tragic events that have been inflicted upon us during the past
three years: the murder, maiming and rape of the Afghan and IraqI people;
Congress wimping out to the bush regime; the u.s. american public pretending
that everything is just fine; and worst of all: turning our backs on each other
and all human beings around the world, especially those we’re presently
bombing.
It always comes back around to this
for so many who have escaped the tragedies of racism or the pain of the
betrayal on the part of the u.s. american public. How can so many be so
ignorant? How can so many be so willingly duped, so willingly led to believe
whatever those in power deem us to believe?
And of course, the womon who had
stopped to see my truck with her husband was actually talking mostly about
white, middle and upper class people. This includes all of the people have been
duped into thinking that they should or could strive for these luxuries in the
first place. These same people have been duped also into thinking that there is
such a thing as equality and fairness and democracy in this country.
By the end of our exchange, the
woman and I both agreed that womxxn need to take over and that we are going to
do our damnedest to make sure it happens. Of course I gave her flyers and told
her about CodePINK Womxxn for Peace as she promised to do her part in her
corner of Arizona.
We embraced again and her husband
took more pictures on all sides of my truck.
“Do you want me to take pictures of
you with your husband?” I asked Gayla.
As he steps forward, she
exclaimed:“Oh no, you and me, Xan, you and me.”
We finished taking pictures, smiled grimly,
waved, and I watched them as they walked away arm-in-arm, trekking back to
their parked vehicle and their privileged but now tragedy-riddled lives.
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