Racism Tonight

The following is a true story, about something that just happened to a black friend of mine, and it pisses me off:

This guy was driving home after dark from the grocery store, through a nearly-all-white neighborhood. From a side street, a group of 4 or 5 kids (between 10 and 15 years old) lobbed a bag full of sand at his car. He braked to avoid it going through his windshield, and it landed on his hood. They ran down a side street. He quickly spun his car around to follow them, but they ducked into or behind houses, and because it was dark and they were several houses down the street, he couldn't make out which ones. He only saw them well enough to guess at their age, and to see that they were white.

He parked and walked down the street a little, hoping to see where they'd gone. No luck. He came to a house with three white men sitting on their porch. Had they seen anything, he inquired. Nope. Not a thing.

Regardless, my friend called the police on his mobile phone and told them what had happened. Wanting to give the police complete information, he asked the three men what street he was on. They wouldn't tell him, pretending astonishment that this guy didn't even know where he was. As the only black person around, it was obvious to them he was out of place, and deserved no help, just ridicule. They clearly didn't give a damn what had happened to him.

After telling the story to the police, my friend returned to his car, figuring it was pointless to stick around, since he had no hope of the perps being located, and especially not of them being turned over. But he saw a couple getting out of their car and walking to their house, and he told them what had happened, so they'd at least be aware of what was happening on their street. Maybe they'd be able to help prevent this happenning again.

She said that she'd seen those kids around, and they'd been making trouble. When my friend suggested that they keep an eye out for these kids and maybe let them know that they were attracting police attention, the man started giving him attitude about this being their neighborhood, and he shouldn't be telling them what to do. (He lives about 3/4 of a mile away, and pointed this out.) He ended up apologising for this supposed impertinence, got back in his car, and drove the rest of the way home.

Now, I can't imagine that my friend would have received this kind of treatment if he'd been white. But because he was black, he was immediately categorised as "them" and basically told by the three men on the porch, and the couple by their car to go fuck himself. That's racism, plain and simple. And it happened just like that, tonight.

Oh, except for one thing. I lied about two things: the "friend" was me (I'm white), and everyone else in the story (except perhaps the police dispatcher) was black.

I do recognise that white racists and black racists aren't equivalent. One has the safety of being in the majority and the institutional power of The System on his side. And the other has extenuating circumstances (see the preceding remark) that partially justify his hostility. But they're both racist. And they're both wrong.

This isn't any new revelation to me, so if anyone's tempted to cheer that "whitey finally understands what it's like", I'm afraid you're a couple decades too late. I've understood deep down for quite a while that racism is hateful and vile, and that it's a double-edged sword that hurts both majority and minority. This isn't my first experience on the unpleasant side of it, either personally or vicariously through frieds on the other side.

But it's something that happened to me tonight, and I think it warrants recognition. I'm not stupid enough to think that all black people don't give a shit about what happens to a white guy, but the fact that several of them do demonstrates that racism is still a problem, and it's a problem that (among other things) contributes to a handful of juvenile delinquents being sheltered from punishment for their crimes. And if there's any white folks reading this who think that racism isn't their problem: Buy a clue. It is.