The Murmur of Crow 01.04.06: Race and 2006

Posted by Brandon Crow on 01.04.2006

Welcome to 2006! It’s a new year and with it, comes new hope, new aspirations, new ambitions and new promise.

But a new year also brings a new opportunity for ignorance, for renewal of old fears and old hatred, for new blindness and a new chance to clutch on to the outdated fabrics of our being. It is in fact a new time to stay rooted to our old, die-hard beliefs.

Say whatever you'd like about Howard Dean, especially after the man sabotaged his own chances at winning the Democratic nomination in 2004. But there is one undeniable aspect of his 2004 presidential run that is dead-on true, and needs to be heeded:

This country needs to have a serious conversation about race.


Too many of us in this country are all too happy to just tuck racism and racist attitudes into some bag, spin it around, tie it up real tight and then shove into the bottom of some old trunk, padlock that puppy up and then haul it to the attic where we'll never have to look at its face again.

The problem here is that we've never fully dealt with the issue. A lot of black people in this country are still pissed about slavery; too many of them cling to the idea of "institutionalized racism."

By the same token, there are a lot of white people in this country who are just not ready to let go of the old "colored" attitudes they were raised with. I'd even venture to bet that there are some white folks (predominantly in the south) who are still peeved at Abe Lincoln for having the audacity to say that blacks are people too.

Hurricane Katrina brought it all back into sight.

But race issues in this country do not simply revolve around blacks and whites. Latinos are quickly becoming a major player in this country and they are the fastest growing ethnic population in the southwestern states. If you don't think there's a "race problem" here with the Latinos, just look all the babble about the honored Minute Men and their patriotic duty to America.

And who can forget "skin color and dress attire" when it comes to the Arabs, the Persians, the Armenians and the Turks, and those poor Sihk Indians, all of whom, "we know," had a hand in 9/11…

While I'm on the topic of race in America, even in the year 2006, let me not forget the plight of the Asians. This is a group of people who are treated like minorities, but never seen as a minority. This "model minority" has taken a lot of "model discrimination" along the way.

We can trace this all the way back to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 if we'd like. Who can forget Executive Order 9066, which interned the Japanese Americans? And when Affirmative Action went into effect, its goal was to increase the opportunity of all minorities to get into jobs and schools without preferential treatment. But this did not help the Asians. Again, here is a group who's discriminated against like minorities but never deemed one publicly.

It's 2006, people. We need to have a serious discussion about race.

Recently, just before Christmas, my wife and I took a week long vacation to Colonial Williamsburg, VA. I wanted to go because it is the historic birthplace of this country, what with Jamestown and Yorktown fifteen minutes away in different directions. I thought it would be a great "living history lesson" and would compliment greatly my newly found interest in American politics.

My wife pleaded with me not to go because it's technically "the south," and not to mention, a very, very white area, in the very white state of Virginia.

I would hear nothing of it. "Time's have changed; people and attitudes change," I told her time and again. "Besides," I added in my argument, "it's a touristy town; how ‘white' can it be?"

My answer came to me on the first day we were there. We took the local shuttle to downtown Williamsburg, to Duke of Gloucester Street, the historic "row of town buildings" established back in the colonial days.

It quickly dawned on me that we were the only two minority faces in this entire town. Everyone else was white. Old and white. This did not bode well.

But I was eager to brush it off and start my vacation fun. Although we got a couple of curious looks on the first two days we were in Williamsburg, it was no big deal. For the most part, people were friendly, helpful. After all, it is a tourist town.

But things took a horrible turn on the fourth day. My wife and I went to Merchant Square (west end of town) and walked into a "wine and cheese" shop to grab some lunch. We had been in there a couple of days before and noticed they sold some delicious looking sandwiches in the back of the store.

So we walk in. And we got looked up and down. Why? Because we're not white. Don't fool yourselves; don't pretend; do not try to sweep it under the rug. That is the precise reason we got the looks we got.

And they looked at us intently for quite some time. I'm used to getting a second look in an area where "my kind" are novelties. But this experience got ridiculous. Not only did we get the second look, we were getting sixth and seventh looks...

Needless to say, it started to make me very uncomfortable and self-aware. But what really nagged me for the rest of our vacation was what happened that day after we ordered our food.

It was raining outside so most of the usual outdoor seating was off limits. There were only six small bar tables inside and everyone in the store was waiting around. My wife and I stood by this table with an old, white couple sitting there. I made eye contact with them, smiled and nodded. We were holding our food in our hands. No doubt we were waiting for the table. We did not "get all up in their space" and rush them out; we just made eye contact and stood aside a bit to wait for them to finish their meal.

They appeared nearly finished, so we waited. After that initial eye contact, the old couple never met my gaze again. We were standing in direct line of sight to the old man (his wife had a side, 45 degree view of us) and he never made eye contact with me again. Every time he'd look up, he'd look to the right or left of us, but never directly.

Once, I made a point to catch his eye. I smiled again. He merely went back to his soup. Another five minutes and they were just about done. Meanwhile, my wife and I had been standing in front of them for about ten minutes, with food in our hands.

They tossed all their stuff in a bag and wiped up the table. They were done at last; there was no doubt. But they did not leave; instead, they lingered a bit. I figured they were chatting and would be gone within a few, so my wife found an unoccupied stool (just a stool) and sat down. I remained standing by the table.

Finally, they stirred. The old man leaned in, said something to his wife, which I could not hear. I won't make a guess at what was said. All I can do is tell you what happened right after. They started to move and put on their coats.

Just then, another group, four white people, walked over by the table and the old white couple looked directly at them, smiled and chatted them up, "real friendly like." I was stunned. Right then, I knew we were screwed.

And then the reason why we got screwed set in.

There was no doubt. In 2006.

Well, the old white couple shuffled off their stools, looked at us (with food in hand) and then looked back at the other group. The old man announced, "I guess we've been saving this table for you..."

Then they scooted off their stools backing into us and put on their coats, blocking us from the table in an amazingly deliberate move. It was like cars blocking each other in a mall parking lot.

I fumed with anger over the screw job. But mostly, I fumed because I could not wrap my mind around the true nature, the real reason of why we got screwed. In this day and age, still, old hatred and dumb discrimination exists. And openly!

I know I should have said something. But honestly, I was so flabbergasted I could not think to utter. And the other group took their seats without saying another word. They had seen us standing by the table too.

What a fantastic 2006 moment for America. We really do need a serious conversation in this country about race.

After I returned home from the vacation, I decided to just let it go. My rationalization went thusly: it was a very white town in a very part of a very white state. It's not like the bigger, metropolitan cities I'm used to—Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, New York…

I did what most people in this country do—I made excuses, sought reasons for why it occurred. Without a real logical explanation to work from, I clung to rationalization. I just wanted to sweep the incident under the rug, take a cleansing, hot shower and forget it.

Just like the majority of this country in 2006.

Say what you will about those cities I named above being "the liberal elite towns;" truth is, they are cities that at least understand there's a whole other world out there, filled with other races and cultures, other ideas and traditions. These cities know that not everything revolves around the white race.

On the day after Christmas, my wife insisted on dragging me to the mall (a huge freakin' monstrosity in Orange County) for the after Christmas sales. This must have been her way to punish me for dragging her to Williamsburg against her admonition.

In any case, we crammed ourselves into stores, stood in Disneyland-like lines just to hand over money, and pushed our way out of stores. This went on for the better half of the morning till we became famished. We went to the food court, and low and behold, the entire world had shown up. We bought some fast food Chinese and then began the unholy quest for some seats. We wandered around the food court looking like two lost fools until I heard from behind me, somebody utter, "excuse me, do you two need seats? We are just about done."

I spun around and saw two white kids (maybe 18 or so) sitting at a table for two. They were still eating, but rolled up their food and offered us their table. And I began to think that maybe it was just Virginia, or that part of the country. Perhaps there is hope for America in 2006 after all.

When my wife and I were nearly done, I thought to pay the deed forward. I tossed our food and tapped the shoulder of an old white man, standing with his wife, food in hand, looking like two lost fools. Thoughts of the cheese shop filled my mind. I asked if they'd like our table. He accepted, said thank you gratefully, and we wished each other a Happy New Year, then parted.

I had exorcised my demons.

Feeling exceptionally good, we began to walk to our car. It had rained that morning and now the sun was out (no kidding—I know this sounds too "writerly," but it's true). The air had warmed up and beaded cars glistened under the sun (also "writerly" but true).

It will soon be 2006. It will be the dawn of a new day, a new year, a new attitude, a new era. Martin Luther King rang in my ears. "I have a dream, that one day…"

Then it all shattered.

As we approached our car, we saw a lady backing out of her space. There was a car in line behind her, waiting. And then, a car came up the lane the wrong way, pulled a dangerous three-point turn that almost crashed into the lady who was leaving, and began to nose his way towards the parking space.

I remember remarking to my wife that this guy was an ass. Just then, I heard him scream, "Come on, you fat bitch!" I turned to see him "gesturing" to the lady who was leaving. Looking further on, I can see the first car that was waiting for the spot. The Asian couple inside was looking at the crazy man as well. They knew what he was up to.

When the lady finally left the space, both the Asian couple and the crazy man gunned it for the spot. The Asians pulled their nose in and forced crazy man to slam on the breaks.

Guess what nationality this crazy man was.

After the usual horn blaring, I heard from the white man, "are you fucking crazy? You wanna die? Get the fuck out of my space!"

Too curious to walk away, I stopped and turned around. The white man had gotten out of his car and was stalking up to the Asian couple like a bear on the hunt. He literally put his face into the car and yelled at the Asian man who was driving.

"Get the fuck out of here because I was here first!"

To his credit, the Asian man stood up for himself, unlike me back in the cheese shop. He screamed back a simple, "You get lost! We've been waiting!"

Just then, I heard it. In 2006.

"You fucking people! You come to MY country and make MY money and I let you do this and this is how you repay ME?"

And there it was.

Clear as day.

In 2006.

…the quintessential American problem….

Racism exists in this country. But nobody wants to acknowledge it.

Not even the president after Katrina.

For all the Conservative talk out there about how blacks and Latinos use up all the welfare and have this amazing sense of self-entitlement, there is not a word breathed ever about the biggest self-entitlement there is:

White people still feel like they're the only real Americans. They own this land, they "earned it through hard work and ingenuity," so therefore, it is rightfully theirs. And nobody else's. The land is theirs, the air is theirs, the earth is theirs, the right to education is theirs, the jobs are theirs.

Clear as day.

Everything is theirs, blah, blah, blah.

Ad nauseum. In 2006.

Only through the magnanimity and sheer generosity of the white man do the rest of us get to come here and make a pittance…in the "greatest country on the face of the earth, so help us, God."

Clear as day. In 2006.

We never want to acknowledge it, but it's always there, floating just under the surface, just beneath the facade of pearly smiles.

It's time we sobered up and stopped hiding in the alcoholic stupor we've induced within ourselves.

Who has a better chance at becoming president in 2008: Hillary Clinton or Colin Powell?

And there's your answer. Clear as day.

Racism in America: it's like hot coffee on the boil—always percolating, waiting for the chance to jump out and burn a few people.