when i was in the marine corps, i lived in the barracks. my first roommate (and only roommate i had) was a black guy by the last name Alexander (first name omitted cause he is cool). he joined open contract and ended up in the postal section. for those of you who don't know, military base post offices are ran by military service. with that, every single thing you can think of is ran by military on a military base, but the only difference is the uniform.
But anyways, I lived with Alexander for about a year. and they guy was awesome. during field day (mandatory weekly cleaning) he would cover for me if I had to work. he continually asked me to go to barbecues and parties with him, but i had to decline due to my job (combat correspondent). he was awesome. he listened to a lot of lil wayne, which is one of the reasons why i got into lil wayne.
But then, I met a guy who was visiting, who also happened to be a spouse of a coworker, and we had something in common ... drinking and pool. so this guy comes to pick me up at the barracks, and i had just finished a shower. I had beers in the fridge so i text, come to my room and chill with my roommate. beers are in the fridge.
I walk out of the bathroom half clothed to find my roommate and my guest starring each other to the ground. While i finish dressing, they speak words at each other. and then i hear ....
"Boy, what work do you do, boy? did you work on a farm, boy? what, you don't like to have a white man talk to a colored boy like that, boy? you want to do something about it colored boy?"
at that time i ushered my guest out of our room, closed the door, and we went to the bar. it is also at that time i realized that racism still exists. i feel guilt for not standing up for my roommate, but my guest was also 100 pounds heavier than me, pure muscle. but the experience is still fresh whenever i interact with someone of color. after that my roommate requested to move rooms, and i deployed.
that's why, when i was in my mother's embryonic sack, i decided to be white. for the privileges ... oh yeah, thats right. it was never a choice.
I never understood racism. just like now, i don't understand homophobia or choice of religion, or choice of ideals. I, as an individual, never have had any impact on whether someone was black, or gay, or muslim. so being adamantly against something against my beliefs doesn't make logical sense. i can do nothing about it.
for the record, i am christian. and i believe the bible. and i believe jesus is my savior. but a strong belief i hold that goes along with the bible is that no man can condemn another. which leads me to be confounded by present day politics about essentially everything.
how can someone say that something, someone else is doing, is wrong, when no one in the history of man has ever conquered the golden idiom of love your neighbor as you love yourself? the only one to do that was jesus, but even he was god sent as man.
so, i am still confused to the history of man. how can hate perpetually exist if the ideals that every sect of human is the pursuance of good. how can racism still exist with the vast amount of scientific knowledge. why aren't racist technically accurate and becoming activist against ape sanctuaries (which would make scientific sense because all humans are 99 percent genetically alike but apes are like 97 percent a like or whatever). nothing really makes sense.
but at least, when both of my white parents conjugated to make me, i had the choice to become a white male in america. otherwise, id be screwed.
