When I was 23, I experienced racism up close and personal for the first time. It was summertime in Alabama and my best friends and I were spending the day together. There was a cool breeze in the air, we all looked nice, and we all felt good. Life was great for us…until mid afternoon when we got accused of stealing. I’d never been in a situation like that before so it was surreal to me. We mostly came into the store to look around; I was thinking of buying some more weave because I’d just cut off the last of my permed hair and I was NOT feeling my natural look just yet. We were standing at the front of the store near the counter; the manager had his eyes on us the whole time. My best friends and I were looking at some of their lipsticks when the manager of the store rudely walked up to one of my friends and demanded that she empty her purse. My friend, being defiant as ever simply said ‘no’. Then, the store owner proceeded to tell us that the cops would come and then she’d have to empty her bag. We didn’t say anything else; we simply got into my car and left the store.
The store owner was either Asian or Middle Eastern I believe. I can’t really remember because its one of those memories that you tend to keep locked away. What I do remember about that day is the feelings of shame and anger and shock that I felt. I haven’t been back to that hair store since. Every time I drive past it, I’m forced to relive that memory over, and over, and over. Even in my alone time, the thought creeps into my head from time to time.
Neither my friends nor I have ever done anything considered even remotely criminal. We don’t act ‘ghetto’, we’re all college educated; one of my friends is now a middle school teacher. We got racially profiled because of a man’s inherent fear and stereotype of Black people.
This man was taught to fear Black people, when ironically, Blacks are more often than not, his biggest customers.
The fear of the ‘unknown’ played a big part in the 2016 Presidential Election. In the days following Trump’s election, thousands upon thousands of accounts of racism have occurred. Ironically, our newly elected President took to Twitter to complain about the ‘paid protesters’ who were being so mean to him. He recently took to Twitter to demand that the cast of Hamilton apologize to VP Mike Pence after peacefully and respectfully addressing their concerns during the curtain call.
What was President-Elect Trump’s response to the blatant racism that’s being done in his name and in the name of his campaign?
“Stop it”
No, seriously, those were his exact words; he looked right into the camera and told people to stop being racist, homophobic, xenophobic pricks.
The attacks have since gotten worse.
I said that I was going to refrain from posting political and election related things on my social media accounts. I’ve actually done a pretty good job at it too, but after reading, and watching, and doing my own research into Trump’s policies and paying very close attention to his potential cabinet members, I have one thing to say:
America, I am so judging you right now…
