Shoes

Repost from a Facebook comment. I don't even know if it is right to say "black" or "white" anymore. Please feel free to correct me. I want to learn the right thing to say. I get that we are all Americans - and for the purposes of this post, I am racially descriptive.

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 It feels so stupid to have to even say this but as a white girl married to a Korean cop, I tend to think these things must happen in other communities.

 A few weeks ago, I was helping a friend put together a community event. Her brother took me to pick up some things from a storage facility. I had never met him before, and he was black. He listened to loud music and had low slung pants and smoked. Not a guy I would usually hang out with but we had great conversation about his time in the military (thank you!) and how hard it is as a veteran to get work, even with a Master's degree.

 We got to where we were going, and I hopped out of the car to go unlock the storage building. A big guy in literal overalls and a big diesel pulled his truck up to the bumper of my new friend's truck. He idled for awhile and then got out and shouted at the driver about "blocking the drive" which we weren't.

During this whole event, I never once was "afraid" or "intimidated" by this experience, until the white guy turned it into something to fear. It was eye opening to me. Being anywhere while you are black makes things suspicious and racial. I was nervous and we weren't doing anything wrong. I think it is delilusional to say we don't have a problem, but I don't know how a white girl goes about solving it unless we all just walk a mile in our neighbor's shoes.