Race Relations

"You can't compare a chocolate monkey like R. Kelly to Jerry Lee Lewis. Jerry Lee Lewis was the king of rock and roll "Great Balls of Fire!" Besides that situation was different... that was family..." - Uncle Ruckus

The Honest Man could not decide what to write about today. USDA-Sherrod situation and the complete fuck up of a mess by all political and activist parties involved. Backhanded compliments and the dumb asses that say them. Another roommate story, this time involving a different roommate and his rational that giving me 10 Chick Fil A sandwiches equals me hooking him up with a $150 coat from Abercrombie & Fitch. Nope, I opted for the following conversation after talking with my "Jewish" lawyer, BA Baracus....RACE RELATIONS!!

Quick Background. BA Baracus. Known each other since junior high school. Son of a prominent veterinarian and accomplished teacher. Nephew of a Hall of Fame basketball player (the teacher is his sister). Grew up in if not the wealthiest, one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in all of Columbia, South Carolina. One of the smartest kids I've ever known. Also one of the most absent minded cats I've ever known (used to call him Absent Minded Professor LOL). Real tight. So tight we worked at Arby's together and promptly got banned from working together during the same shifts at Arby's (another day, another blog). Now he's a big shot lawyer and I told him if I ever get into "real" trouble, he will change his last name to something Jewish like "Goldstein" to prevent me from doing jail time. But before you start calling us the new age Danny Glover and Mel Gibson, Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney or any other Ebony-Ivory combo, that's not the point of today's blog.

Today's post is about improving race relations. And before some person reading this goes oh you solved racial problems, no stupid I said improve not solve. That means take steps to reach a solution. And it doesn't take a genius to realize our country's race relations are not the greatest. I believe the root of it is a misunderstanding of one race's perceptions about a another race. And obviously black folks and white folks have been misunderstanding each other since the slave ships touched land :-).

Well let me tell you a story about how I learned more about BA Baracus. Remember I said he lived in a wealthy neighborhood right? One day, he impromptu invited me to his house since we got out of school early and had time to kill before soccer practice. I had wealthy black friends in the neighborhood too, had been inside their MTV cribs type homes, and had hood dreams of having my own type crib. When I got to BA's house, I was expecting the same thing. And looking on the outside, that's didn't do anything to dissuade me from thinking I was REALLY about to see the dopest house on the block.

We get inside BA's house and it's pretty straight. Not crappy. Not oh shit. Just straight. The first sign of wow that's a misunderstanding of white folks was when I asked BA for a snack. This fool broke out Frosted Mini Wheats and Apples. That's not a typo. Told me his mom didn't buy snacks like that. And to add salt to my crushed diabetes dream, he said we got water and orange or apple juice to drink. Again first sign. Second sign was we went to the living room and I'm like let's see what's up on ESPN. He shot back oh, we don't have cable. This BIG ASS house and ya'll aint got no cable. I'm seriously like wow. No junk food, no cable. No wonder this kid is whuppin ass and taking names in school. His parents decided to invest in their kids' health and goods that will appreciate (art for the ignant) instead of ding dongs and MTV. What a novel idea!

The next time I came over to his house, BA let his Mom know I was coming over and it was like night and day. The fridge was stacked with pizzas, sodas and the pantry had cookies, Lil Debbie snacks, etc. Now she didn't have cable installed but I was cool with not having to feast on Frosted mini wheats for a snack LOL.

How does solve the misunderstanding? The above is exactly what my parents did to me growing up. If we didn't have guests coming over, my mom would have us eating leftovers for days, snacks consisted of fruits and veggies, and don't you dare even ask about going out to eat. But if you came over, it was like we hit the lotto, moms' is ordering pizza, stocking the pantry with all kinds of shit that I could OD from a sugar rush on, and make you think this is the best place ever.

Add in my line about his parents making him work too, I thought to myself wow that is how smart people stay wealthy and live longer. And also let me know that white folks are like black folks. We all try to do what's right for our kids, no matter if we agree with it or not. And I also learned, the next we have time to go to someone's house, man forget BA's house, we going to my house to have hostess Cinnamon rolls and watch Sportscenter ;-)

Today's Lesson

BA never knew this until now but going to his house on two occasions taught me something new about white people. They like saving money and boy they love them some Frosted Mini Wheats :-). Black people, white people, reach out to your fellow white or black person and make your own Lethal Weapon ;-).