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Work 4 Peace,Hold All Life Sacred,Eliminate Violence! I am on my mobile version of the door-to-door, going town-to-town holding readings/gatherings/discussions of my book "But What Can I Do?" This is my often neglected blog mostly about my travels since 9/11 as I engage in dialogue and actions. It is steaming with my opinions, insights, analyses toward that end of holding all life sacred, dismantling the empire and eliminating violence while creating the society we want ALL to thrive in

Monday, October 31, 2005

angry white men - to be continued

i drive thru south carolina this morning bracing for the equal parts hostility and enthusiasm i usually face - i get 54 miles into the state before i receive on giant smile, body wave, and excited nod of the head from an african american womon. everyone else has been silent - even those i catch reading the truck & making eye-contact - they quickly, & without expression, whip their eyes back to the pavement stretching before us.
i wonder at this a-typical silence from the deep south - are people just not reading the truck or are they deeply ashamed or maybe baffled into silence? i notice tons of traffice exiting the freeway, not one car using it's signal - maybe everyone is silent about everything this morning.
by the time i leave the perimeters of the biggest city greenville and drive nto the country toward the georgia border, i begin to pick up several 'fuck you's' from angry white males. they lean out their windows, reach across their passengers, change lanes to get closer to me so i can see their faces as detailed as fall leaves etched in anger & disbelief.
so these men aren't so silent after all. an african american male truck driver pulls up next to me, waves, nodding vigorously, and gives me the peace sign. as i cross over the border into georgia, several white youth wave the peace symbol thru the roof window and out the sides of vans, cars, and mini-station wagons, happy to see the truck.
i drive into atlanta amidst horns, fists, peace symbols - i feel welcome & glad to be in safer - i.e. african american - territory. i'm going to go directly to my daughter's work. i drive down a narrow, 4 lane winding city street divided by a solid double yellow line & bordered by trees & sidewalk, not a hint of a shoulder. i notice a large white pick-up truck, attempting to pull around me over the solid line into on-coming traffice. the driver, a young white male w/a shaved hed, is honking his horn & screaming out the window. i ignore him until he pulls into the lane next to me - his skin now a bright red as words & saliva stream out his mouth: 'fuck you, idiot, fuckin' liberal, anti-american commie'. i try to give him my best disbelief & 'who do you think you are' look.