| I thought that I'd tell you the story about my trip up to Parchman prison when I went to see Willie Russell a couple of weeks ago. I stopped to get gas in Yazoo City, Mississippi. It is maybe an hour from Jackson, the state capital. The first thing to ask is why is it called Yazoo �City�? It�s like 3 trailer homes and a horse. I did notice that there was a "Bank of Yazoo City". Personally, given the look of the town and the bank, I'd have felt more secure with my life savings floating in a bottle across the Atlantic ocean. Anyway back to my story. I pulled in to get gas at the pump furthest away from the man behind the counter and as there was another car between me and the teller, he couldn�t see me. I placed the nozzle in the relevant spot, flicked up the pump and squeezed. Nothing happened. No big deal I thought, very often at night they make you prepay, so I wandered into the store brandishing $20. When I walked in the Pakistani man behind the counter exclaimed �I am so sorry, I didn�t see you, go outside and by the time you get there the pump will be turned on, I didn�t see you, I am really sorry�. I thought to myself �wasn�t he a nice chap, must be that famous southern hospitality at work." When I filled up the car I went back inside again to pay. I was in the store alone. The dude behind the counter stated �I am really sorry that I didn�t turn the pump on when you got here, only I couldn�t see you and I thought you were black!� You know that mankind has come so far but in many ways we're still rooted to the past. This man thought that I would understand and share his point of view simply by virtue of my skin color. He wasn�t white himself but presumably considers himself a higher caste than African Americans. I thought about trying to tell him why his views were racist and how at the very least he ought to keep them to himself but what�s the point? I had better things to do like drive to Parchman, the State Penitentiary than to argue with someone whose views are probably 14th generation and who would need weeks and months of my time before I just might get him to accept that stereotyping people by the color of their skin is not big and it is not clever. Gary January 27, 2002. |