Tales From the Edge of the Earth: Racists I Have Known

                                                       Pondering at the Gates of Dawn

By Grant McGee

               Where did this new wave of Neo-Nazis come from?  They seem so out of place here in the future, the 21^st century…to me anyway.

                I suppose I may have seen them coming when I heard-tell of a family out west that devoted their time, worry and resources to digging man-traps on their property in anticipation of the collapse of the United States under President Barack Obama.  But they were survivalists, not Neo-Nazis. 

                Or were they?

                I don’t know, I’m not the one who had the close encounter with them.

                I’m searching my memory and the first racists that pop up in my head are Dead Kevin and his father Dead Mr. Stimpson.

                Dead Kevin was a racist because quite simply, most of us know the old saying, “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

                Dead Mr. Stimpson was angry at the world.  Even as a kid I recognized this.  As an adult I look back at Mr. Stimpson realizing he had not attained that “enlightenment” (for lack of a better term) that comes with age in that one realizes that one is where one is because of choices made.  He blamed others for his problems, particularly black people.  The source of his anger was his days spent as a cook in the military.

                I remember the 1968 election and the Stimpsons.

                “My father,” said Dead Kevin (but he wasn’t dead then, that would come in 14 years), “Is voting for George Wallace.  My father says if Humphrey wins then we’re going to have to let a [The “N” word was used here] family live in every white family’s home.”

                “What?” I asked.  I was just a kid but with what I did know about the world this bit of crap from the Stimpson clan made no sense.

                “Have to clear a room and let them move right in,” said Dead Kevin.

                If I had been a little older I would have asked who the hell said such a thing and prove it.

                As it was I went home and asked my mother about what Dead Kevin said.

                She threw her head back and laughed.

                “You’ve been hanging around that Stimpson boy again haven’t you?” and she went back to fixing dinner.

Awww….

You know what Dear Reader?

                I’m gonna just stop right here about the Stimpsons…there’s a lot more.

                Just writing about their dumbassed racism just gets my blood sugar up and fills my head with anger wishing I’d acted differently around these idiots when I first encountered them.

                There’s no damn good reason to engage in racism, prejudice, bigotry, discrimination, period.

                It’s just another tool used by one group to beat another group into submission, to try and control others…the way some people use money, ancestry, religion and such to try and make themselves superior.

                Hell, did you know that back in the 1700’s…by about 30 days after the first prisoners were dumped at the penal colony that would become Australia the people formed into classes…there were those who had done what could be termed “white collar crimes” like embezzlement and such lording over those who had done other crimes like robbery, burglary and such.

                So I really wish that back in 1977 I’d said something snarkier to the debutante from Richmond, Virginia who was in the same dorm suite as a girl I was going out with at the time. 

                For some reason the debutante said, “My ancestors are probably rolling in their graves because I’m sharing a dorm suite with a [The “N” word was used here].”

                I just stared in disbelief at her.  The girl who she was talking about was in the next room.

                “There’s a problem with that?” I asked.

                “What do YOU know?” she said with the wave of a hand, “You’re from Roanoke, oh my God.”

                Or I wish I’d had the wherewithal to rebuke the idiot construction worker on my crew in south Florida back in 1989.  He jumped into a chat I was having with another construction dude about having multiple wives.

                “For instance,” I said, “In a number of African countries there’s no problem with folks…”

                “Skewz me,” said the interloper.  This was a new guy from Alabama.  “Africans?  You mean to say [The plural “N” word was used here].”

                I was dumbfounded, caught off guard.

                “No,” I said slowly, “I was talking about Africans, folks who live in Africa.”

                “Well in Alabama they’s called [The plural “N” word was used here].”

                He and I stared at each other.

                The vibe was if I’d a-pushed it there would’ve been a fight and I would’ve got my glasses broken.

                “Gotta get back to work,” I said.

                I turned to go.  Behind me I heard Mr. Alabama snickering behind me.

                And it was at that point I resolved I wouldn’t be visiting Alabama, Mississippi or most of Louisiana in the future.  As I grew I decided I would travel in those states, I’d just be wary.

                I’ve seen perfectly good candidates for jobs passed over because of their skin color, the business owners afraid of what other business people in town might think if a minority person was out and about as a company rep.  All handled quietly with no words to make it seem as if the candidate simply didn’t qualify for the job, much in the same way I experienced age discrimination recently.

                I’ve experienced reverse discrimination…it was about a truck driving job for a western janitorial supply company.  And when I realized what had happened as I walked away from the business I chuckled to myself and thought, “So this is what it’s like.”

                It wasn’t a good feeling at all.

                Or the woman I took an interest in once upon a time long before I met The Lady of the House.

                “It’s no use,” she said while we were casually chatting one day.

                “What’s that?” I said while I was mooning over her.

                “Your interest in me,” she said.

                Suddenly I was wide awake.

                “What?” I said.

                “My parents would raise holy hell because you’re white.”

                “I don’t understand.”

                “They only want me dating guys who are ‘our’ people.”

                I was stunned.

                I reckon I could write, “WHY CAN’T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG.”

                But every time I do people think I’m an idiot, an uber-liberal, a hippie or someone who ain’t right in the head.

                And when I ask, “Why is that so stupid?” I pretty much get the same answer, “Because it is.  We’re not meant to all get along.”

                But I know this.

                Racism, bigotry, prejudice, discrimination is stupid crap practiced by stupid people.  Now I know some in that group don’t THINK they’re stupid but they are.

                And how this whole thing raised its ugly, buck-toothed, pointed head here in the 21^st century in the “Land of the Free and Home of the Brave” amazes me.

                So knock it off.

                We’re all passengers on this organic spaceship zipping around The Cosmos.

                Love one another.

                The world’s first proto-hippie uttered those words.

                                                                                                -30-