Class or Race?

I know that there is a Race problem in The United States of America.  I think that this is something that we all know. Speaking as a black woman here in America I have witnessed and experienced racism on very many different levels.  However there may be a small turn.  I think the first evidence of this turn is the fact that we have elected a Black Man for president.  I know that many US citizens of many different races and cultural back grounds had to have voted for him.  I believe that people were able to look past his race and hear his class, his views, and his principles.

There has been a joke in the black community for years that there are two kinds of black people.  There are "Black People" and there are "Niggas".  ( I am quoting Chris Rock ) Now whether we as a race want to admit this or not.  There is more than a just a little truth to this statement. And I believe that white people have this same issue.  They have "White People" and they have "Trailer Trash".  Now I believe that Black people and White People are tired of "Niggas" and "Trailer Trash" respectively.

I was in Michigan this past weekend. And I took another trip to the mother ship of black entertainment.....MOTOWN - HITSVILLE!  (I think that everyone should try to go there at least once in their life) Anyway there were just as many people of the white race and the Hispanic race as it was of the black race.  Now if you have ever been to Motown then you know that it is a very very small place.  There were at least 40 people who were on my tour.  Now even though the place is small there is soooooooo much to see.  There was a small white lady in here late 50s to early 60s and she had to be at least 5 foot 3.  Now here I am 5 foot 10 and am able to see everything without any hindrance.  This small white lady would have to work here way through the small halls and thick crowd.  When I would see her fighting here way to see this wonderment of music history I would politely step back so that she would be able to see.  Now here we were getting close to the end of the tour and I heard another black woman say in a gruff and loud,"I'm ready to kick some a**" voice. 

"I KNOW IF THIS WHITE WOMAN JUMPS AHEAD OF ME ONE MORE TIME I'M GOING TO CUSS HER OUT.  SHE IS SO IGNORANT WITH NO HOME TRAINING. LET HER STEP IN FRONT OF ME ONE MORE TIME."

I felt so embarrassed because I knew that this white woman was trying to make the best of this situation. It did not look as though she was intentionally being rude to this black woman.  The white woman was very excited to see everything and she was very short and it made being able to see all of what she wanted to see tough.  The space was so close that many people were bumping each other and I heard a lot of "Excuse me", I'm sorry."  I thought that we all understood that this was something we were all experiencing together and we were getting through it in harmony.  One of the main things that Berry Gordy wanted to accomplish with Motown was bring down the ropes of segregation.  I felt that this black woman was being mean and disrespectful to this white woman just because she was white.  And in turn the black woman was being disrespectful to what the cathedral and shrine of Motown stood for.

Another thing is that a couple of days later my Aunt and I were in a Flint. MI gas station.  The station was so crowded that cars has to form lines at the pumps in order to get gas.  Now I found a pump and I got in line and I politely waited my turn.  Now as I was pulling up to a pump, a red Pontiac Gran AM pulled into the station and tried to back right into the pump I had been waiting on for the last ten minutes.  So I honked long and loud at the car the was pulling in to let him know that he would not be getting this pump.  And I proceeded to pull up to the pump.  However this guy was still in a death grip fight for this pump.  I yelled out the open car window.  " I was already here partner!" Out jumps a late 20s early 30s black man who proceeds to yell very nasty and disrespectful things to me.  Now here I am a respected black writer and entertainer and this young black man upon seeing a black woman gets out of the car yelling all kinds of obscenities to a queen.  He and I were the only two Black people in this gas station. And I saw all of the white men looking as this black man jumped out of the car blatantly disrespecting me. THEN THE FUNNIEST THING HAPPENED.  My eyes caught one big tall football built white man, and our eyes lingered on each other and the white man gave me a fist pump and a two nod yes head shake.  In that moment this WHITE MALE understood, what I understood.  It was obvious that I was a lady and I didn't deserve this complete failure of disrespect.  In that moment that white man was saying to me, "Stand strong sister, I got your back if we need to call the cops." I recognized his body language and I smiled at him and I nodded my head back to him in solidarity.

The young black guy jumped out of his car and told me that he had a .45 caliber gun in his trunk in case I needed to be shot.  And he ran into the store of the Speedway.  I stayed in the car while he went in.  I mean in today's world you gotta let crazy people be crazy.  But as I sat there I caught the eye of another white man on my right side. And he was laughing and fist pumping me as well.  His vibe.......this woman is not going to let anyone punk her........but at the same time has the good sense to let this fool be a fool by himself in the gas station while I remained safe in my car.  His laugh was a laugh on incredulousness at the actions of the young black man.

These experiences have taught me this weekend that life is changing from racism to classicism.  I understood the pain of the woman in Motown and I wanted to come to her defense because I felt like the black woman was so out of line with her comments.  The white men saw that this black man was all the way out of order by disrespecting me so blatantly. I am not saying that racism between blacks and whites in America is over, but there is a tide that is turning.

My Pastor the Bishop Henry M. Williamson Sr. used to say that right is right even if nobody is doing it and wrong is wrong even if everybody is doing it. Just because I am black and the woman at Motown being disrespectful is black.............that does not make her right.  And just because I am black and the man at the gas station was black the white men showed me that they understood that a lady being disrespected is wrong not matter what color she is.