Debates… Gag.

I’m so over the political games. I’m over the hatefulness and division. I’m over it. I’ve been over it. But now I’m crazyoverit. Please, NOVEMBER? Get here.

I checked out the polls this evening and was entertained. Mostly because Obama is holding his own (Yihooooo!) but also because the South cracks me up, y’all! Them hillbillies are gonna mess themselves if a “colored man” makes office! OMG! Go look at Alabama, South Carolina, Mississippi, and Georgia! They are sweatin’ grits and fried okra right now! But I’m baffled by the numbers because though there are so many racists and/or closed minded folks, these states are very diverse. In fact, the white man isn’t majority there anymore, I bet. So what’s up with those numbers?

I can’t even begin to tell you the racism we faced as an interracial couple in the mountains of western NC. The clan still marches annually through the streets of Asheville– on horses with hoods and swastikas! We also noticed that we saw more hatefulness together than we did apart. Obviously a white woman isn’t going to experience racism as much as a black man. Though the black women weren’t always “kind” or “accepting” of me, they weren’t ready to hang me or burn me with their eyes like the white men were when they would see Jeremy and I together, much less if Austin was with us because then it meant that we were also procreating. Hissss. Booooooo. SCANDAL!

We went out to dinner one night in Asheville. We were having some drinks and enjoying one another, laughing and canoodling and minding our business. I noticed a handful of men at the bar looking at us, making faces, starting to get loud, directing yucky vibes our way. At some point the bartender just quit serving us and I was getting peeved as it was obvious why he wouldn’t serve us. So I walked up to the bartender and ordered some drinks. While he made our margs, one of the men from the group came across the room to the edge of the bar I was standing at. I looked back a little frightened at Jeremy and he stood poised in a defensive manner, waiting for someone to make a wrong move. The man said, “What’s a pretty gal like you doing with a N1gger like that?” The air left my lungs. My hands grew sweaty and fisted. I was inexperienced and scared and outnumbered. I could think of a million witty things to say back now. But instead I looked him in his eyes and said, “I love that man. And we’re none of your business.” We paid our tab and left. I’ll never forget how far away from that place we are now.

I had a bumper sticker when I was about 22 that said, “Racists Eat Poo”. Silly, I know. But I was 22 and I had something to say… I just hadn’t learned how/where/when to say it. I knew that racism had no part in my world; and my tolerance of it had especially grown slim since the birth of my beautiful dark skinned son. Needless to say, I had to scrape the sticker off my car. I had threatening messages put on my car all the time over that silly bumper sticker. One of the many reasons my indifference to racism only grew over the years.

Scariest of all is wondering what 50-100 years would have meant to our love. We’re blessed that there are laws and ideals to protect us now. What would they have done to us in the 40’s or 50’s for loving one another? I shudder to think. It was unheard of for a white woman to marry a black man, much less in the South. We’re blessed to have been born when we were. And only by a generation or two; by the skin on our teeth. America has come so far, but still has so far to go…

If Jeremy entered a fish house restaurant with his brother, no one turned their heads or made hateful statements. But if he took me into that same fish house, the place would quiet… people would stare… and sometimes things would get scary. Like “Deep South” scary. Like “Deliverance” scary. Like “holy-shit-jump-in-the-car-and-lock-the-doors-we’re-out-of-here” scary. And there is NO WHERE IN AMERICA THAT THAT SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO HAPPEN!

That is one of the reasons why we tucked tail and left NC. Maybe one day we’ll return… retire on the beaches of NC… time will tell. What is wrong with these people? And what the heck are these back woods rednecks going to do when their country’s Leader is a man of color or their Vice President is a woman? Well… Maybe they will have to learn to behave themselves. And I welcome that, however the election ends.

Here’s to November!

Posted by: stepherz | 10-08-2008 | 03:10 AM
Posted in: Just Me