Race...Again (2)

I’ve been thinking a lot about race once again. It seems as though there is always something going on that puts this country’s bipolar response to our racial make up front and center. Recently we’ve had an elderly NBA team owner spout some of the dumbest things I can recall hearing. And why? Because he was jealous that the surgically enhanced tart he was bedding (thank you Viagra!), 50 years his junior, was posting Instagram photos of herself with Black athletes.

            Not to be outdone, we had a Black congressman refer to a Black Supreme Court Justice as “an Uncle Tom.” We can’t even have a legitimate conversation about immigration and our borders because – for so many on the right – it boils down to skin color. The left is no better. Like so many friends from my prior life who toil away in academia (the proverbial salt mines!) they talk of racial equality yet work at institutions, attend churches, and live in neighborhoods devoid of any racial diversity.

            Not so in here. You want a front line experiment on the effects of race in America? Come to a prison. On its face, race matters. We naturally gravitate toward our comfort zone and we find comfort in what we know. If we live segregated lives, we apply those memories when we are thrown into a new, uncharted area – that’s race relations in prison.

            One of the worst things “inside” is watching how race ends up separating men, how it leads to violence. But I also know our preconceived notions of race can be overcome. What’s inside matters a hell of a lot more than one’s color.

            So last week I found myself in the midst of a racial dispute. On one side, “Tan Chris.” If ever a guy deserved an ass kicking, it would be TC. Simply put, he is an arrogant prick. He also makes blatantly racist comments. On the other side is a 32 year-old muscular vet, Kemp. Kemp did two tours in Afghanistan. One of the results of his service was a 20% disability rating for injuries (a purple heart recipient) he suffered.

            Anyway “TC” makes it a habit of launching racist jokes daily. He sleeps across from me, and each day I hear him mutter some disparaging remark, always directed at color. The other day, he told me he didn’t like the turnover in the building. “All that’s coming in are more of them,” he said. To which I replied that in “my experience” it was always “white guys” who - 1. don’t wash their hands after using the bathroom; 2. don’t regularly do their laundry; 3. are disrespectful. In fact, I told him, it was the young Black guys who always showed me the most respect.

            “I figured you’d side with them,” he said. My retort: “I hate everyone equally regardless of color.” Back to Kemp. The other day, he catches old TC muttering about Blacks. And, it pisses him off. So he approaches TC and tells him, “If you have a problem with people like me, then I have a problem with you.” Now Kemp would pulverize TC and I’d love to see it happen except … except beating up a guy solves nothing.

            So I pull Kemp aside and ask him to refrain from knocking the a-hole into next week. And Kemp, a guy I’ve helped some with college and other stuff, he smiles and says “ok. I’ll do it because I respect you.” He adds a “But.” “But, if that racist MF keeps it up, I’m not promising anything.”

            So it goes in here. It’s all ignorance really. One ignorant guy making stupid comments about people and pretty soon there’s turmoil. Maybe prison isn’t that much different from the world “out there.” Maybe one of these days race won’t matter.