So you know the confederate flag is racist!
Sitting in my truck, getting ready to take off down a residential side street, a honking big-ass black pickup truck with one side of the front bumper hanging off, dark tinted windows, pulls off the main road and crookedly parks across the rear bumper of the passenger car parked directly behind me.
I see a large white man jump so quickly out the truck, he leaves it running with his door open. His navy blue sweatshirt has been ripped at the should, revealing huge white arms with tattoos running up and down both sides.
I here him say something like "I don't care" as he bounds toward me, bald headed but sporting a bushy red beard.
I hop down off the my seat to meet him on the road as I greet him with a cherry "hello".
He whips out his phone and starts taking pictures before telling me in a very neutral voice that his mother would like to see this. Apparently she lives up north.
He declares, surprising me, that he can agree with almost everything on my truck. I am surprised and test him, asking if the "death to racism" doesn't 'offend', as I point out my experience with other white men (I don't mention the pickup or the tattoos - yet) do object to what I've written.
He looks at me with crystal blue eyes and says, "Why should it? I'm not a racist so it doesn't." Then he goes on to declare his "live and let live" personal attitude and as long as people leave him alone, he leaves them alone.
He finishes with a littany of all the friends he has: Black, Mexican, white - you name it. He doesn't believe in not giving people jobs or places to live and the same things he wants for his family, everyone should have for their family.
I smile encouragingly and then state: "That's great but there's such a thing as institutional racism that ensures you and white people get to live and work where we want and prevents people with darker skin from getting those very things."
He protests that of course he knows these things. I comment on his tattoos, that are colorful and geometric shapes. He immediately exclaimed with a wide grin "No racist things" as he pulls up the material hanging slightly over one shoulder, twisting his arm so I can get the full view, "not even a confederate flag."
I nod with approval as I say "So you know the confederate flag is a racist symbol!" and watch as his face flushes almost the color of his beard. "Yeah" I think is what he mumbles as he waves good bye, bidding me to "be safe" and "keep up the good work"...
I see a large white man jump so quickly out the truck, he leaves it running with his door open. His navy blue sweatshirt has been ripped at the should, revealing huge white arms with tattoos running up and down both sides.
I here him say something like "I don't care" as he bounds toward me, bald headed but sporting a bushy red beard.
I hop down off the my seat to meet him on the road as I greet him with a cherry "hello".
He whips out his phone and starts taking pictures before telling me in a very neutral voice that his mother would like to see this. Apparently she lives up north.
He declares, surprising me, that he can agree with almost everything on my truck. I am surprised and test him, asking if the "death to racism" doesn't 'offend', as I point out my experience with other white men (I don't mention the pickup or the tattoos - yet) do object to what I've written.
He looks at me with crystal blue eyes and says, "Why should it? I'm not a racist so it doesn't." Then he goes on to declare his "live and let live" personal attitude and as long as people leave him alone, he leaves them alone.
He finishes with a littany of all the friends he has: Black, Mexican, white - you name it. He doesn't believe in not giving people jobs or places to live and the same things he wants for his family, everyone should have for their family.
I smile encouragingly and then state: "That's great but there's such a thing as institutional racism that ensures you and white people get to live and work where we want and prevents people with darker skin from getting those very things."
He protests that of course he knows these things. I comment on his tattoos, that are colorful and geometric shapes. He immediately exclaimed with a wide grin "No racist things" as he pulls up the material hanging slightly over one shoulder, twisting his arm so I can get the full view, "not even a confederate flag."
I nod with approval as I say "So you know the confederate flag is a racist symbol!" and watch as his face flushes almost the color of his beard. "Yeah" I think is what he mumbles as he waves good bye, bidding me to "be safe" and "keep up the good work"...
posted by Xan @ 2:18 PM
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