Sunday, September 24, 2006

NO shame to my game.

if i hear someone being racist in even a subtle way, i will not hesitate to call them on it. it may be in a phony, laughing-but-you-know-i'm-dead-serious way, but you will get called on it.

I was at work yesterday, and these two white women were talking about something, I’m not sure exactly what-it had something to do with people who allowed themselves to be taken advantage of.

But of course, my ears perked up when one of them started talking about a neighbor lady whom she felt so, so sorry for. You see, this old lady allowed her granddaughter, and her grandaughter’s boyfriend Ty-RONE to live in the house. Well of course, Ty-RONE (with special emphasis on the name TY-RONE) was just out to get her money because, Ty-RONE was just a loser. And TyRONE this, and TyRONE that.

We all know about Tyrone. The way she kept emphasizing the syllables in his name. TyRONE. TyRONE. Yes, we know that Tyrone is black. The way she kept implying that he was such the loser, and the way she paused everytime she got ready to say his name.

The other co-worker caught on fast. ‘Oh…UH huh….’nodding with that look to say, "I know exactly what you're talking about" They didn’t think I was paying attention. It was so obvious. What she was really trying to just say was,
“this BLACK guy is trying to take advantage of my neighbor because….he’s BLACK, you know….her boyfriend, this loser BLACK GUY….”.

The poor, poor good white citizens that had this happen to them by Ty-RONE.

Ugh.

So, a couple hours later, I walked over looking for some supplies, and I casually said, "Was that you I heard talking about some guy named Ty-RONE?" That was all i said, yet, she looked so ashamed. we were on the same page. she knew what i was getting at.
immediately she began explaining herself. how she didn't mean it sound like this, or like that, she was just trying to tell a story about a neighbor and how sad her situation was.

she backpeddaled for about 5 minutes while I, with no expression just looked at her. all that explaining PROVED i wasnt being overly sensitive about it. because, for all she knew, after i asked her about tyrone, i might have been wanting to join in and dog on him too.

but she KNEW.

She looked embarrased.

Do you know any white men named Tyrone? I don’t.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

They don't make white guys named LeRoy anymore but my 80 year old grandpa is one of the last. No Jewish boys named Adolph either.