I have a feeling that this article will probably spark some argument, but I urge you to withhold judgment to the end. This is simply my opinion based on my own personal experiences.

I was pumping gas last week at a RaceTrac in the middle of the day, and when I tried to go inside to pay for my gas, a man blocked the door and would not let me in unless I smiled and winked at him. I was polite and simply told him to have a nice day and decided to go through another door. This man followed me around the station as I got a water and went to the register to pay. As I was leaving, I saw through the reflection in the glass this man asking which pump I was going to, and the cashier told him. I tried to get my car as quickly as possible so that I could sit in my locked car while the gas pumped. As I was getting into my car to wait, the man stopped me from opening the door and asked me if I could answer a question for him. I didn’t respond and tried to close my door. He continued to ask me if I would ever date a biracial man. I asked him why, and he said that he wanted to make sure I would be down for biracial dick, because he wanted to do me right now. At this point I was trying to figure out how I could get someone else’s attention. I was extremely uncomfortable so I lied to the man, told him I had a boyfriend and was not interested. The man, who I may add was at least 40 then went off on me. He said that I was what was wrong with white people, that I was a racist bitch for not flirting with him and I only wouldn't go for him because he was part black. Thankfully at this point, another customer pulled up to the pump on the other side, and saw what was going on and pretended that he knew me to get this man to back away so that I could get my car detached from the pump and leave as fast as possible.

There are so many things wrong with this situation, and sadly this wasn't the first time that this happened to me this summer. Something similar happened when I was taking classes at Georgia State this summer when a black student approached me and asked me to flash him, and when I ignored him he started yelling at me in a similar fashion that I was racist. What bothered me the most about these situation was not the sexual harassment, but the accusations that these men made about me simply for naturally reacting to a uncomfortable and potentially dangerous situation. Because I am not willing to go out with a 40 year old sleaze who harassed me in public, or that I didn't flash someone on my way to the library does not make me racist.

I worked at a summer camp in Conyers a few years ago, and I had a camper use the F word in front of several other younger campers. When I pulled him aside to discipline him and call my head staff, this eight year old boy started protesting and said, “You're only getting me in trouble because I am black.” As calmly as I could I told the camper that no, if any other camper had used that language they would get the exact same treatment. That even if the staff had done this, they would lose their job, because it is against the rules of a children's christian camp, and there were much younger campers listening.

I do believe that the past eight years, the social racial divide has reached a new level. Everything that has happened was tied back to race whether appropriate or not, and it has created a skewed mindset. We beg for equality, but I believe that tracing the root of every problem to race, is doing exactly the opposite. I am not denying the racism present in this country, it was painfully apparent this past week. But crying racist at anything that doesn't go your way takes away from the real issue. It minimizes the awful, disgusting racism that is still going on in this country. I am in no way saying that every single ethnic person who doesn't get what they want cries racism, because that is not even close to true. There are good and bad people in every race, culture, political group, and community. I am not denying that either. I am simply taking this opportunity to defend myself and my opinions on this particular issue because I have been relentlessly attacked the past year and I believe that it is not justified. And these examples are why I feel the way that I do. That we can choose to always be a victim, but all it will do for us is hold us back. And I believe that this is extremely relevant in the racial discussion. However that does not mean that it applies to everyone. If anyone takes issue with this article, I ask that rather than comment and make a spectacle that you please dm me.