THE SURREAL LIFE
I’m just getting in the door this evening. I had something really surreal happen tonight that hasn’t happened to me since 1987, I got called the n-word to my face by a white person. I’m shocked too. I get called the n-word by black people on a daily basis and a number of them are elected officials. But what’s so bizzare is that it wasn’t being called the n-word that was so weird, but how it happened.
I had just gotten back downtown from teaching and decided to hit the Columbia Club for a couple quick cocktails and then go back to the house and call it a day. While there I ran into a couple good buddies and we decided to go over to Nicki Blaine’s for drinks. One was black (and an investment banker) and the other white (who was a lobbyist). While walking along the circle we crossed paths with ne’er-do-well who looked like a cross between the Fonz and Gene Simmons when he was really strung out on blow.
After the man got about 20 feet way from us he yelled “look at those n——!” My friends and I all looked at him and then each other and in a moment out of Blazing Saddles, my black friend and I looked at each other said ,”was he talking to you?”
The ne’er-do-well shouted something else and walked around the corner onto Market Street. The three of us went to Nicki Blaine’s with very puzzled looks on our faces, made a few jokes and then had our cocktails. My investment banker friend and I chuckled that we pay more in Social Security than the ne’er-do-well makes in a year, so I guess in the end we did get even, But, I have to say it was a very surreal moment. Even more surreal than the time I was mistaken for a male prostitute near the new library.
I’m not even sure why I decided to write this down. I guess just to prove that it did happen. Welcome to my world.
August 29th, 2007 at 11:54 pm
The library thought you were a prostitute ?
Seriously, this city has crazies tucked away in many locales. Is it PC to call this guy crazy ? Maybe not, but sheesh, what better word ?
August 29th, 2007 at 11:58 pm
Just call him …
“Fred Garvin, Male Prostitute”.
August 30th, 2007 at 1:24 am
I prefer @$$hole myself…
August 30th, 2007 at 7:55 am
At least you did not whip out a gun and mow him down !
August 30th, 2007 at 8:21 am
Loved the Blazing Saddles imagery.
August 30th, 2007 at 9:52 am
Where are the White Women at ?
:)
August 30th, 2007 at 9:53 am
You could NOT remake that movie in todays world.
August 30th, 2007 at 11:25 am
No doubt the comment was made by someone of the PWT community. I will say the Blazzing Saddles comment was quick-witted and very commendable.
August 30th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
Same thing happened to me awhile back. I was walking under a pedestrian bridge in Chicago, and two black teenagers walking on the bridge above called me a cracker. The funny part was they didn’t do it to my face…but from a place I couldn’t get to. At first it irritated me, but then I realized that if you are un-intelligent enough to shout crap like that to complete strangers, you aren’t really worth a hill of beans and it really isn’t worth my time to be worrying about it.
August 30th, 2007 at 6:01 pm
One day, I was walking out of Circle Centre Mall and some random guy on the street yells “Hey Jew Girl” at me – twice! I think the worst part was that no one said anything.
Memo to self: quit wearing the “I love the Torah and Rabbis” t-shirt in public . . .
August 30th, 2007 at 9:33 pm
Sorry Kevin, “Cracker” and the “n” word are not even in the same category.
August 30th, 2007 at 9:38 pm
I wonder if this is the same guy that was banned from the war memorials and is now being represented by the ACLU?
August 31st, 2007 at 4:45 pm
Your story is not surreal. You evidently passed through a parallel universe, taking you backwards in time to the early to mid twentieth century when even the most lowdown nasty white guy may have had the idea that blacks, no matter how successful, were under that nasty guy in the cultural food chain. I would rather believe this story of a parallel universe than to believe that any person breathing today would still hold such a stupid and unholy belief (if even in the neurotic recesses of a sick mind). Or since you’re a Star Wars fan, maybe we should imagine that the nasty guy was mistakenly transported to this age from a long ago age, glitch in the transporter… Where’s Spock when you need him.
August 31st, 2007 at 9:25 pm
Sorry about the “up yours N…..”! God bless Blazzing Saddles! Unfortunately idiots abound.
September 1st, 2007 at 3:48 pm
I get called a blue-eyed white devil twice a year (expo and circle city classic). Welcome to the club.