For some of my fellow white people, who feel you have been victimized due to your race

[dionysus]

112. here's what happened.

freshman year in college I was a avid basketball player, played a bunch of ball with some black kids. One of them was Ronnie. got along great with these guys. They used to call me Bird because I was white. After freshman year, I became a hippie, stopped playing ball, and lost touch with those guys.

a few years later, I stayed over the summer in the school apartment complex. wasn't much going on but some kids stayed for the summer. one night we heard a party, decided to check it out since we were still underage and couldn't buy beer on our own. there were 4 of us, me, two other white dudes, and Pete, the drummer in the band I was in, who was black.

we roll up to the party, it seemed to be a black fraternity. no other white people around. the guy running the show points at each of us white dudes "5 dollars, 5 dollars, 5 dollars". then he points at Pete. "3 dollars." Pete got mad and said "fuck you nigga, let's go guys". He must have been REALLY upset because he never used those kind of words around us. (ok, I know he was pissed because he swore the whole way home)

2 years later, it's the complex wide party at the end of the year called Spring Jam. everyone is getting down and partying their asses off. I'm standing outside having a cig, and this guy walking by suddenly does a double take and stops... "Bird?!" It was Ronnie!

we hadn't seen each other for almost 3 years at this point so we're catching up, having a few beers. Ronnie says "Bird, I'm looking for papers, I can't find any anywhere, you got any?" I happened to have a pack of zig zags in my wallet, I offered to give him some.

"no man, come back with me, i'll smoke you up and we can hang out!" all is well as we head back....

...to that same frigging apt from two years earlier.

I walk into the place, and all conversation grinds to an immediate halt. they're looking at me, looking at Ronnie, then back to me. I'm the only white person there. the SAME asshole who pulled the beer stunt is there on the couch and says loud enough for everyone to hear "oh hell no!"

I looked at Ronnie, he was about as embarrassed as one could get. "Bird, I didn't realize.. I..."

I said no problem, handed him the zig zags, and said "hey keep the pack", and left.

while I didn't experience anything major as being denied a job, being pulled over for no reason, or worse things like violence, it was enough of a taste of bigotry that I knew I didn't want to experience it again. I felt bad for Ronnie, he saw me as just a person, which is how it should be. I hope they didn't give him too much of a hard time.

point is, racism isn't cool, no matter who does it.