I finished while she ran to visit some friends who work over there. I completed my task and texted her that I would meet her at the car.
While standing in the parking structure awaiting her arrival a tall, bald African American man walked by me. I thought to myself that I should probably ask him for his autograph because in my mind he was obviously a big time basketball player. Maybe even for the Lakers. He just had the look.
I live in Orange County. I am shopping at South Coast Plaza. I am alone in a parking structure and this is where my feeble mind went. I continued to contemplate my thoughts. Am I a positive racist and do those two words combined even make sense? And do I assume this of anyone above 6 feet tall? It didn't even cross my mind that he could have been someone who might accost me.
Kelsey and I have had several conversations about institutionalized racism and I am having a difficult time separating this all out. Am I an institutionalized racist? A little help maybe is needed.
Oh how the Roderick mind works.
It seems as if your two choices were basketball star or thug. How about shopper? He was in a mall parking lot, after all. SCP isn't for the poor folks, so perhaps he works nearby in one of the many office towers off Bristol :o)
ReplyDeleteyou are right . . . lots of choices . . . curious how my mind worked at that moment in time . . . xoxo
ReplyDelete