Some say not to play the game.

Tall Tree, Short Rope
VERBATIM POST

It's not my intent to ridicule anyone who is honestly trying to "rise above" all this racial hatred and bigotry being stirred up and worn like badges of honor by the black community. I want to say this up front, I appreciate those with this attitude, and I wish it were that simple.

I, however, don't consider it a game, neither do any of my "blog friends". We call it real life.

I grew up in the Memphis area and it was anything but a game.

In '68, many (not all but most of them) went from singing "free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty we're free at last" to "let's get over on whitey."

I know because I was grew up there. It wasn't a game. I was born there. It was home.

As an adult, I remember walking through "Orange Mound" the absolute worst area in Memphis for a white boy to be. I was working for the cable company (then called Memphis Cable Vision), and I realized from the hateful racist glares I was getting from adults and children alike that the only reason I was being left alone, was because I was the "cable guy". I was their "hookup", and it didn't feel like a game to me then. I was scared.

On another occasion, an assault on me was attempted by a 12 or 13 year old boy with a stick. Seems that his mother hadn't paid the bill in quite a while and of course I had just disconnected their cable. It wasn't hard to bluff him to stand down, but it could have just as well have been an adult with a gun or a club. I didn't feel like I was playing a game then either.

At no time did I have the option of not "playing a game". I had to be there, I didn't have the option of not participating.

Now, when you hear calls for Race Wars, it's still not a game, and those that are on my blog roll that live in Florida don't consider it a game.

Yes, butt-holes and criminals come in all colors, no one ever said they didn't. And the first one that comes through my door in the middle of the night will regret it, I don't care what color "they" are. But let's not try and fool ourselves. When is the last time you watched a you-tube video where the flash mobs robbing a convenience store were white? When was the last time you saw a white flash mob attacking a single black individual. Have white people ever been guilty of this crap, oh yes, and there's a special place in Hell for them. But that's not what's going on now.

It's not a game. It's real. None of the folks that I'm thinking about or associate with in Blog world want to be involved in any of this garbage. But just because none of us want to be involved when this mess flares up doesn't mean we can just ignore it.

We just can't start singing, "Its a small world after all", get our warm, fuzzy, multicultural feelings going, then turn our backs from these issues and casually walk away.

Some people will put a knife in it.