Hey! Take It From a 13 Year Old Girl

I was at a family gathering today celebrating my brother-in-law's birfday. I went outside with Lola and watched her sniff the grass, walk around, burn parts of the lawn, and all around be a sweetie pie . Across the street came a huge entourage of kids walking in a very determined and ambitious pace. I had my hoodie on due to the chilly weather and gusts of wind whipping around me; the heat coming off my bald head was being sucked right into the ether. I had my back turned to them while watching Lola. All of a sudden I hear "Hey, old guy! Across the street! The guy with the hoodie on! Turn around!" As the case with most people, I do exactly the opposite of what you ask me to do when you adress me that way (plus, I don't respond to "old guy" just yet...notice I said "yet" ). The continue to yell things at me and I kept ignoring them.

All of a sudden a flock of see-girls rush right next to me to take a look at me. They were all definitely very young with freckles, excessive amounts of badly put together make up, braces, and lots of gaudy jewelry on. They were all carrying bags of stuff and had cameras so I figured they were probably on a scavenger hunt of some sort for the evening. The lead girl looks at me and says, "Oh, wait. He's not old. Damn. Let's take a picture with him because he's hot." The other girls argued with her regarding my oldness and they decided they just had to take pciture with me to complete their picture as I was "older than they were and it's close enough to being old" . I took a picture with the gaggle and they went on their merry way. There was a boy with them that seemed a tiny bit younger than the girls (maybe a brother?). The girls thanked me as they walked off and the boy then proceeded to say "Thanks nigger!"

I stopped and thought "Dude, did he just call me nigger?" The kid was white and with the way he said it, I couldn't tell if it was a faux term of endearment or if he was trying to insult me. I let it slide and figured the kid was just being annoying. As the girls walked away, they saw me and said "Thank you!!!" and the same kid yelled out the same phrase he used earlier. At that point, I yelled back "You're welcome CRACKER!" just to see if I'd get a reaction out of him. I didn't see any reaction come out him from it.

Yes, I ultimately dabbled in racial ignorance tonight. My ego did get a tiny boost from the compliments the girls paid me. That kid needs to watch his mouth. Luckily, you can call me just about any name in the book and get away with it as it won't phase me. However, there are plenty of people that are programmed to take offense and will take action in a heartbeat to beat your arse!

Currently listening : That Nigger's Crazy

Note:This was originally posted on MySpace with comments at:
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=16074757&blogID=444100366&Mytoken=C7152190-FF4B-46FF-B86B0B364D3FE8DB218552609