So today I wore my Mexican national soccer jersey to school to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. My numerous Hispanic students always get a kick out of it and they are allowed to call me Mr. Brown or Senior Blanco for today only. But I had an interesting experience as I was walking across the breezeway from the parking lot to the school. As I walked past a group of white kids (made up of mostly poor white trash rednecks) I heard someone spit and say "Mexican" in a very hostile tone almost under their breath.Of course I kept walking because there was no way to truly be sure who was responsible out of a big group of kids and to even be 100% certain the spitting sound was related to the verbal slight...or even if it was directed toward me since I'm not Hispanic although I was wearing the Mexican jersey. But it was tragically enlightening to experience for a brief moment what many of my Hispanic and African-American students go through on a regular basis. As a white male I have never had to deal with that kind of prejudice. Just goes to show you that despite the enormous gains in equality and ethnic respect, the spectre of racism is still alive and not necessarily just hiding in the shadows. The event saddens and angers me because I realize that so many have to go through worse abuse than this on a daily basis.
I've blogged before that I will not allow the ugly reality of racism to go unexposed when I come into direct contact with it. In this case I could not defintively prove that anything actually took place. That's one of the stumbling blocks for the persecuted. You ask yourself was the incident real or imagined. And even if real, what recourse do you have since you can't prove anything.
Often these kids are outnumbered. And all you're left with is a vague, yet certain uncomfortability. That's the case because most racists are too chicken-s$@t to step out of the shadows and confront head-on. Yeah, I apologize for my language but racial harassment pisses me off. To think of good people having to endure that crap everyday. That's the ugliness of racism.
But in those cases where I do encounter racism...usually in the supposedly safe confines of white conversation...I do not allow such warped thinking to continue unchallenged. My goal is to shine the light on those cockroaches and make them scurry to the shadows carrying their unhinged mentalities with them. I will make life as uncomfortable for them as they do for others. It's been said many a time that allowing evil to go unchallenged is just as evil as the evil itself. The least we can do is to make them squirm and not be comfortable with their mentality of hatred.
photo: Me the last time I was in Mexico back in 1998.
