Today was a an eye-opening day for me. I live in Houston, a cultural melting pot where hints of southern racism still linger. I knew it existed, but I never encountered it personally in my 20 years on this earth until a few hours ago. Of course I've seen it on TV, in movies, and on the news, but today I came face to face with the misguided element of ignorance that is racism. I'll explain more below the fold.
Let me preface with two things: I am white, and I'm a huge Obama supporter. I have been since he spoke at the 2004 Democratic Convention. I met him on Capitol Hill during a family trip to Washington, DC during the summer of 2006 and told him that he was an inspiration to me and many others and that I would be ready to go to work for him on day one should he choose to run for President. He was not as popular as he is today, obviously, and so this conversation lasted about 5 minutes on the steps outside Congress as he walked to his car unaccompanied and unnoticed. Then he announced he was running in Springfield, IL, and I immediately donated, bought a T-shirt, and affixed an "Obama 08" bumper sticker to the back of my car. I was so proud to drive around Houston with that bumper sticker, and still am today. He has a lot of support here in Houston.
Well yesterday I was in the drive-thru at Wendy's. Have you had their new shakes? Delicious. Anyway, I was the next car in line to order, so I already had my window down. There was also a pickup behind me in line. All of a sudden I heard this yelling. I looked around to see where it was coming from, and also to focus in on it because I couldn't understand what the person was saying. I noticed the car in front of me looking in their rearview mirror with a strange gaze, so I looked back using my side mirror and saw that it was a woman leaning out of her truck yelling something and pointing at me. I then realized what she was yelling:
"F**k that ni**er!" "You go to hell."
I could not for the life of me understand why she was clearly yelling this at me, until I remembered the prominent "Obama 08" sticker displayed proudly on my back bumper. By the time I realized what she was talking about and gathered that it was directed at both Obama AND my support of Obama, I had already rolled up my window. If she was comfortable enough to yell profanities and derogatory words at a complete stranger in a drive-thru, who knows what she was capable of? It also visibly pissed her off, and she kept edging the car forward like she was going to try and hit me.
When I pulled up to the window to pay, I told the girl working there (who happened to be African-American) what was happening, and she apologized, told me how disgusted she was at people like that, and I drove off, shocked about what just happened and realizing that I literally came face to face, or at least car to car, with racism in America. I hope the girl at Wendy's spit in her food (I'm joking, of course. I didn't realize I needed to clarify that point.), or at least burnt her burger.
Has anyone else been in a similar situation? I'm still shocked, saddened, and more motivated than ever to fight ignorance with intelligence (even though it's basically an exercise in futility) and help elect Barack Obama. He won't repair the racial divide in an instant, but it will certainly speak volumes about our nation. Oh, and he'd make an incredible President even if he were white, he just HAPPENS to be black.
Yes, we can!