Race Like a Pro Now · Mar 3, 07:12 AM

Do you get the story from the photos? Two kind young men accompanied me to a baby shower. One got punched in the face for no good reason. He did not retaliate. We all walked out with our heads down in shame.

We went to a baby shower in the projects. Puerto Rican house bumping non-stop. Drinking Hennessey, eating plates. Everyone got along well until a baby can of Budweiser flew through the air, got tangled in the Yankees balloons above the center of the table, causing it’s intended receiver to lose sight, and eventually bounced and hit a woman in the face. A man at her table punched a man at my table in the face and mayhem ensued.

What is crummy house music doing at a baby shower? And all those little kids, and all that booze? It wasn’t our fault.

Before I get into why all this is here, I have to give you the two highlights that actually happened, “The guy in the first picture who got punched in the face, and mind you, it wasn’t his party, he was outnumbered 30 to 1, grabbed his assailant by the shoulder and said, “You don’t want to do that again.” That’s like a little kid talking back to a grown up, woooo. Highlight number two was the other person in the first picture, jumping up and screaming, “Turn the music back on. TURN IT ON. Ain’t nothing gonna happen. There’s little kids here.”

I bring this story up because I keep reading about race, as related to the upcoming presidential race, in the newspaper. (Before I forget, listen to Arthur Ashe’s call into the Brian Lehrer show from almost 15 years ago. p.s. My mom painted the most beautiful water color of Arthur Ashe, had it framed, and I gave it to my former boss at the Legal Aid Justice Center in Richmond, VA. Thanks for that one mom.)

All people have to go on is their own experience of race, including the experience of learning about another’s experience. Almost everyone at the baby shower we were at was Puerto Rican. Did people walk away, talking about us like, “Fuck those white guys,” or was it, “Fuck those guys who ruined the baby shower.”? Different people thought different things, I know. If people knew that a kid had his brother and a friend in town and they would have been overly excited wherever they went, would that have mattered? No one had a mens rea.

I used to volunteer at a school on Perry St. in Richmond called Sacred Heart. I have no younger siblings and I like to teach, so it was a good thing for me to do, hang out with some kids (11, 12, 13, 14) hear what’s going through their minds. I loved tutoring but I hated playing outside with the kids. If I knew this is what I was going to be asked to do for the day, I’d make up an excuse to leave. Basically, I understood why I cried a lot when I was younger. When little kids and big kids play together someone gets hurt, and I wasn’t mature enough to be out of the big kid category.

One day, I was doing pull ups with some kids on the jungle gym and one says to me, “Like totally awesome, dude.” In that mocking way that a black kid will mock a white guy (everyone at the school, kids, teachers, were black). This kid kept talking like that and at first I was just like, “Shut up.” But he kept doing it and I yelled at him, “Do you know any white people other than me?” He said, “No.” And, I asked him, “Where did you hear people talking like that”? This kid looks around, looks at me, and whispers, “Jackass.” I laughed. Johnny Knoxville, Bam, and Steve-O educating the youth.

It’s a lot of work to represent an entire race or sex. We all do it though.

What do you think?

— Albin

Comment

1. i think you did the right thing and represented yourself ….... tv is misinformation that leads to ignorance …. its basically a controll tactic ….. get informed …oh and arthur ashe was a beast, thanks for the link

   — bon jovi · Mar 4, 12:12 AM · #

2. This sounds like an appalling and depressing and humilating incident. But somthing similar is going on with Obama. Mack Truax likes tough women, hence he loves Hilary (whom I loathe),and so, despite his habitual jabber about how much he likes black people, he’s been saying nasty stuff about Obama. Ultimately, no matter how “cool” anyone says he or she is, white people genuinely cannot understand the resentment felt by Blacks or Hispanics. Not even Polish whites!!!

   — robert trent · Mar 4, 08:48 AM · #

3. Sounds like a situation worth philosophizing about cousin. I’m with rob up above I find it hard to understand the resentment that is felt between races over here as I’m borne from a totally different situation where I’m not a minority. But I must say sometimes shit happens out on the streets of New York that makes me think damn these blacks have it tough here, no wonder they hate these people.

   — Itai · Mar 6, 06:14 PM · #

4. what the fuck – shirtless white dude doing pull ups in his white calvins in a playground in the project and he is complaining that some kid has him confused with johnny knoxville and steve o. is that so wrong?

   — dick wad · Mar 8, 07:27 PM · #

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   — rtxjgxfyb · Mar 22, 03:45 PM · #

6. Hmmm? Throwin up the sign. Royals (Norwood Park Chapter). Teeth obviously cut on the m e a n streets.

   — · Apr 4, 02:48 PM · #

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