You know what it's like?
Published December 18, 2004
I'll tell you what it's like.
'Cause I'm no racist. People just assume I'm a racist and I'm tired of it. Shit. Man I never think about race, who has the damn time?
Yeah, I know there's racists out there. I saw that thing about the Klan march on TV, I'm not saying there ain't no racists, I ain't stupid. But I ain't nothin like that. Nobody I know is like that. Those guys are an embarrassment.
But me and my friends, we don't have that kind of trouble anywhere we go. Unless there's black people around. Every time I saw something racial come up there was a black person involved. I'm not judging anyone, I'm just saying what I've seen.Really. Like,you always get all tight. You just feel racism is there, like a shadow in the corner of your eye. You look out for things like that, you don't want to get caught up in some racial shit because you know they're going to say it's you. And it ain't.
And when those guys with the hoodies and the droopy pants come around, it's like you feel it, like mist rising from the ground around the feet of some monster in an old black and white movie, and when they pass the you feel loose again…you just know, like you know the guys in the suits are probably okay. And that shows it ain't about race. So don't try to make it about race.
Everybody needs to just get over it anyway.
- You know what it's like?
- Published: December 18, 2004
- Type:
- Section: Culture
- Writer: Prometheus 6
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Comments on this articleComments
I must be especially dense today, I am not parsing the meaning out of your post, P6, is this in the same vein as the earlier race column?
As for the sags and hoodies, kids fashion are almost always off-putting to everyone else. I live in Germany and see German, and Turkish, teens wearing all the gangsta-style stuff and I am more likely to laugh at them. I see African-American soldiers every day who look squared away in uniform, and a few are responsible ranking leaders, but after duty they are dressed up like they are back on the block, just goes to show you can't tell a book by its cover.
The article describes an archetype, not my personal views.
It's a pattern I'd like folks to be familiar with.
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there are things about society in general that are racist. Taking part in the ongoing discourse and not doing anything to change or redefine the terms is something that is arguably racist (or sexist or homophobic or what have you). If you're feeling tense, isn't it possible that the problem is you and not the kids? Is it all kids in hoodies and droopy pants? With those kids, I've always figured, "Don't start nothing, won't be nothing."