He's Not A Racist

I had a very interesting conversation with a gentleman the other evening. Well...actually he was a white biker dude and it was 3 o’clock in the morning and we were at the Waffle House. (confessions…smdh). Ok. The waitresses began to ask him about an incident that happened at his club. So not only was he a white biker dude, but he actually owns the only biker club in the city. You know what a biker club is right? It’s that place that sits off of the road. There is a lot of orange and black (Harley colors) and skulls and s%#^ everywhere. The incident, of course, was one about a black guy that came into the club at 1 in the morning with 4 white girls….so of course this got me to thinking.

Anyone who said we live in a post racial society must be insane. There is no way that you can travel the same roads I travel, consume the same products I consume, or even breathe the same air that I breathe and say that we live in post racial times without damning a little piece of your soul. Racism is institutional. People confuse dislike for racism. You can hate all the black people you want. Until you set up something that can be proven to be unfair, discriminatory or anything like that, it’s just hate. No different than black people hating other blacks or white people hating other whites or any other culture who hates people of the same. But when it becomes institutionalized, it’s a different animal all together.

I could go off into a rant about the statistics…incarceration, drugs, school, blah, blah, blah..but we already know the stats are horrible. I actually have another point.

The waitresses asked the guy about a racist comment. The story went like this…My friend said they came to your bar and you said they couldn’t come in because they had a nigger with them. The biker dude stuttered a little and I could tell he was a little weird about it because I was there and one of the waitresses was black. The first thing he said was “huh….what?.....who??”. I smiled to myself and said he stalling for time. Then he said oh yeah I remember that but it didn’t happen like that. Look man I own a redneck biker bar. He said that 4 white girls came into the bar with a black guy. One rather large white girl started acting a fool because she was drunk. The black guy came over and started in with her. They said that the people at the bar had been watching them all night and treated them funny. That they weren’t gonna pay full price for the beer, tried to fight the bartender and that they weren’t wanted there anyway. To which the owner said, there was a sign in Faith, N.C. that said nigger don’t let the sun set on you in Faith. He suggested that they go remind themselves of where they were. Then the biker man says, “so, yeah I did say something but it wasn’t really like that.”

After my initial thought of this %$*@(*$&.., I quickly corrected myself and mentally punished myself for the following reason. He’s not a racist…Wait a minute..did a white guy say the “n” word? Yes. Was he actually referring to a black guy when he used it? Yes. Was he trying to be cool and just went too far? No. There was a time in my life where I think I would have slapped the guy with a racist label and started talking crap. Now I’m older and classifying someone actually takes thought.

These are the thoughts I had that influenced my change...

1. The waitresses admitted that the group who told the story were drunk as skunks. 2. It was said in the midst of an altercation. 3. It’s a man thing and the owner is going to go hard or show off on trouble makers in front of friends and clients. 4. (most important and longest) Even the people who told the story knew they weren’t wanted there. It was a redneck motorcycle bar and a black dude went in at 1 in the morning with four white girls who were drunk already.

Somebody gone say something if you do that…it was not the place to go for the brother man. If the biker guy hit the strip with four sisters at the rough hip hop club at 1 in the morning, chances are somebody would have said something there too if they started making trouble and it would have been all his fault. At a certain point it’s not about being racist, it’s about saying stuff that’s designed to hit the other person where it hurts. To be honest, if I went to the policeman’s ball with 4 drunk white girls at 1 in the morning I would probably go to jail. Something is going to happen because....well just because it is. I’m just saying. You can’t be dumb when you travel.

See the truth about it is, just because somebody says something with a racist wrapper on it doesn’t mean that they are involved in racism. Maybe they are just mad. Maybe they hate you. But until they make you unable to proceed in life, they are just haters…..you want to see racism? Look at the House of Representatives….white biker dude is not that bad.