One of the strangest moments ...

Had an unbelievable experience tonight.

Go out to dinner with Mrs. dog and some of her friends from work. One of the ladies brings along her boyfriend. As we're all standing around talking before dinner, I start talking with this guy. Seems nice enough. He's sarcastic, somewhat funny and pretty outgoing.

So, we go into the restaurant -- a Mexican place -- and this guy ends up sitting next to me. We've been sitting there for a few minutes when the waiter, a Mexican guy, comes over for the drink order. And that's when this guy starts in on one of the most obnoxious racist rants I've ever encountered, especially from someone I've just met. The guy goes on and on and on about how the "wetbacks" and "spics" are killing the country. And they're not alone, he says. Over the next 30 minutes, he manages to pretty well degrade every race on the planet, except, of course, the white folk.

At first, I'm somewhat taken aback and don't say anything. But as he goes on, I just can't take it any longer. I start killing the guy with logic and make him look rather foolish and ignorant several times. But he's not deterred. Of course, he's aided by his girlfriend, who laughs and defends the jackass. And that just encourages him to keep going.

But here's the weird part about all of this and probably why it took me so long to start firing back: The guy's NOT WHITE. He's half oriental, quarter latino and quarter white. And it's not some combo that's barely noticeable, either. You look at the guy and you automatically think: Mexican or Asian.

I swear to God, it was like I was in some sort of Chappelle skit.

 

I'll bet your buddy got a nice, juicy loogie in his enchilada. And you might've too.

 

He's not white! Alert the media. I thought all bigots were white. Wow!

 

Was it Vic Morrow?

Had he reattached his head?

 

Maybe I should've bolded the part about this guy degrading pretty much every race, including orientals and latinos.

You miss that part?

 

Didn't miss a thing. Just mildly amused at your shock (oh those capital letters) that someone who isn't white could have such bigoted views. The dirty little secret about race relations in this country is that racism doesn't dicriminate. Contrary to the Spike Lees of the world, you don't need "power" to be a racist, all you need to be is hateful. And, unfortunately, hate spans the racial spectrum.

 

I hate you, pallister.

 

See, even doctors are hateful.

 

The point is that he trashed his own people.

Never mind. Maybe next time.

 

My point is that too often the debate on race is framed as, literally, a black-and-white issue. I wish it were that simple. But it's not. Again, it's unfortunate, but we shouldn't be surprised by such warped views.

And now I'm thinking about hanging out in a chilled beer room. Thanks.

 

It was just what I needed. I strongly recommend it.

 

So what exactly is John Rocker doing these days?