Racism?! In America?! Surely you jest!

Racism has been mentioned in the news lately by all the political pundits. Much has been speculated by Joe Wilson's outburst during President Obama's address. People are also gathering in front of the Capitol protesting Obama's plan for health care reform, claiming their protests are over big government. It boggles my mind that these people either don't remember or choose not to remember the big government under the Bush administration (hello? the Patriot Act?). We have people comparing Obama to Hitler, others claiming that Obama is not a U.S. citizen, still others claiming that our democracy is in danger of becoming a socialist country. I really don't think people know the meaning of socialism. Never mind that there are programs we use today that are socialist-based....medicare, the roads and highways we drive on, etc. Excuses, excuses. No one is talking or wants to talk about the pink elephant in the room. Sssshhhh ladies and gentlemen, the president...is....black. There, I said it. The fact is that racial tensions are still an issue in America. Want proof? Consider when Obama was called a liar by Joe Wilson. If "W" had been called a liar by a Democrat (especially a African-American Democrat), the GOP would have cried "bloody-murder" and started some form of radical punishment. Bottom line: Racism remains alive and well. The following is a true story. Dora, her sister Josie, Josie's husband Jabier, and I were victims of racism...yes folks...even here in conservative Midland. I will borrow Dora's words to tell the story.

The incident occurred on Saturday (09-05-09) between 3:00 PM and 4:00 PM. The woman was pushing a shopping cart, which had space for her two kids. She was accompanied by her husband. My sister Josie, my brother-in-law Jabier, Sara, and I arrived at Sam's to pick up a birthday cake for our 75-year-old Mom, whose surprise birthday party we were hosting later that evening. The 4 of us had lunch first before we went to the bakery dept to get the cake. As is more often usual than not, no employees were to be found, so we waited around. There were two ladies ahead of us, both Hispanic like us, which will later be an important part of this story. Because we were second in line, we were standing a little bit outside the area, but not too far into the main aisle where other customers could not easily pass by. Apparently the woman thought she owned the entire store (probably cited eminent domain as her reasoning) and she blatantly ran her shopping cart, with two kids in tow, into my sister's side. She and her husband must have known what they did and probably thought they had just cause because they later claimed we were in the way. I happened to look up ahead to where the couple was heading (veggie dept) and the woman gave me a really wicked look and asked if I had a problem. My sister had just mentioned to us what they had done, so I replied to the couple that they ran into my sister with their shopping cart. They denied it and started saying some stupid things. They were yelling at us. I told them they should be ashamed as they had their children with them and they were obviously setting a negative example. They kept yelling and acting very foolishly so I attempted to calm the situation by saying, "God bless you." It was ridiculous, upsetting, and embarrassing for us. The woman and her husband (who are Anglo in case I forgot to mention it before) looked really ticked off and acted as if their actions were not a big deal. They walked further away towards the meat dept so I thought all was done until I saw my sister move ahead from where we were still standing near the bakery dept and she said (and I quote)..."Ma'am, that was totally uncalled for...you did not have to say that"...I asked Josie what was said or done. My sister indicated that the woman had called us a bunch of "damned Mexicans." Josie, for those who know her, is very friendly, peaceful, lovable, law-abiding, and as close to a true Christian one could hope to be. She is not one to look for trouble, she is the one who tries to bring solutions to a table and one who tries to keep others from fighting or such. For her to have to defend her family and herself in such a manner is really sad - it is sad for that one ignorant woman and her own family who heard those words come out of her mouth. It was quite evident that this woman and her husband knew that they had done something really awful as they hurried away to some other part of the store. Josie did not follow them because it is not her character. I did not follow them either as I normally would because of the children they had with them and because I was not going to allow anyone to ruin that day that we had planned for so many weeks to celebrate our beloved Mother's 75th birthday. We had too much to celebrate and too much to be grateful for and this one foolish woman and her husband were not going to rob us of that, so we let it go. Now remember the two Hispanic ladies ahead of us in the bakery line? They also heard all of this commotion and were shocked by the actions of the couple and that the woman had allowed such trash to leave her mouth.
Never in my 43 years of life had I ever been victim to a racial slur. Being a cleft-palate, I had endured much taunting about that, but never because of the color of my skin. Not to my face (or as close to my face as the cowardly woman said it under her breath). It offended me and it upset me. Those kind of feelings were new to me and it took every ounce of bravery to denounce the woman's actions and indeed turn the other cheek.
I felt bad for my sister because I knew she felt all of these things if not more as she was the one to hear those foolish words of belligerence. She is too smart and too classy to succumb to the kind of actions that are the apparent nature and character of that woman.
If that woman ever reads this blog posting or the posting I will surely place on a Midland, Texas forum, she should know that she did not break us. She did not shame us. She did not scare us. She did not make us cry. She made us stronger. We went home and had a fantastic party.