People come in all types, sizes and shapes. Despite any claims about general superiority, we all are pretty much equal. The history of the human race is so muddled that the existence of a ‘pure’ racial type is extremely rare … and usually limited to those primitive tribes that also shun all outside contact.
So I generally react with disgust and annoyance when I see things promoting white supremacy. It’s vaguely ironic, because, through a twist of fate, I happen to have blond hair, and eyes that most people assume are blue. I even had a friend in college that would always point out to me that I was the ‘perfect aryan type’ when we would discuss race issues.
My appearance, however resulted in an interesting situation that I started calling ‘the White Man’s Club.’ I never realized how unusual this was until just a few years ago—but it was something that has happened to me ever since I can remember.
What happens is that I find myself in a situation where I am with someone I don’t know—I might, for example, be in a waiting room at an oil change place, and there’s one other person there. One other white person.
Because I’m a friendly type, I occasionally start conversations with these people. Sometimes the other person starts the conversation, and I become a willing participant. What happens then is that the other white person will make a racist comment to me. Sometimes it’s just kind of slipped in to conversation. Other times, the other person has initiated the conversation with the assumption that I’m a fellow racist.
It’s happened to me enough that I take it in stride. I never thought anything odd about it until a friend of mine who isn’t white mentioned the same situation happening to them. I brought the subject up with one of my white friends about it. He didn’t have blond hair or blue eyes—and he looked kinda shocked. ‘No, he said … that’s never happened to me.’
