Just Over Reacting?

Let me check the date one more time…January 28, 2005.

I know over the years some folks have thought me a bit over the top on my views on diversity. I have been told that I shouldn’t look for things and that in the case of my wife, that no one views her as minority or ‘different’.

Oddly enough I guess that information was not shared with three young males in a Ford F150. So here I was, sitting in my office trying to come up with a topic for the day (for the Whiner) when the phone ran. My wife had left earlier to walk our dogs on the ball fields near our house.

My now clearly, disturbed wife was on the phone describing to me what had just happened. She had just crossed the street, when a red F150 drove by. The truck slowed down and the passenger rolled down the window on his side to utter “Go back to China you F***ing bitch!”

There are no words for the feelings of rage I feel, and trust me when I say; I could not get to my truck fast enough.

I get people being angry with me over something I did or said. No one has ever yelled at me for being white. No one has ever told me to go back where I came from. My wife also pointed out later to the local police officer, that she was, in fact, from Mississippi, not China. A point clearly lost on these fine youths.

Ever wonder what it is like to not be able to walk your dogs in comfort…to constantly look over your shoulder to see what the next fool has to say…then to wonder to what level it could possibly go to next.?

Me neither, but my wife does. She lives with it everyday.

So pardon my sensitive nature, when it comes to the treatment of minorities. I guess I’m just a liberal who has a soft spot for people of color. I get that not everyone thinks the way these punks did, but trust me… how little comfort is that, when you are standing on a public sidewalk by an open ball field with your dogs and someone is screaming at you.

The police assured me that they would follow up and have a chat with the youths and even their parents. Well, that warms my heart and I’m sure it will make my wife feel much ‘safer’.

I can’t help but wonder if perhaps a bit of the parents may have rubbed off on their darling children.

Sorry, just no way to make this one very funny.