At first I couldn't think of what to title this post because I'm still so angry. Then I started writing and it came to me. Here's what happened.I went to my family reunion in Maryland and had a wonderful time. I had a straight through flight coming back, where I sat by the window and read Grace After Midnight by Felicia "Snoop" Pearson. The book took us through the changes in her life leading up to a her role on the HBO show The Wire.
As I finished her book in flight, I thought about how different my life had been and how far removed I was from the stereotypes and choices that she had to make in her life.
Well as you know life has a way of slapping you right back into reality. I exited the plane and proceeded to go to baggage claim to get my luggage. 3 flights of bags were all being unloaded at the same baggage claim. You can imagine the number of people waiting for their bags.
Since my flight was the last flight to arrive I knew there would be some time before I could retrieve my bag. I decided to walk outside and have a much needed cigarette. I stepped outside lit my smoke and a white woman began screaming at me.
"Oh no you don't" she said.
"No I don't what?" was my response.
"You can't do that here. You must not be from California." still screaming at the top of her lungs she said "I'll call the police on you right now."
So to avoid this crazy woman I walked 5 feet away from her and found an ashtray were I completed smoking my cigarette. She looked over at me and sneared as she blew me a kiss. This was not a gesture of endearment by any means. She was taunting me.
I'm a responsible smoker when it comes to those who don't smoke. I thought to myself instead of this woman going off like this all she had to do was to say the smoking section is over there or something. I would have taken no objection to that what-so-ever. So after finishing my cigarette and before retrieving my bag I decided to say just that to the woman . As I approached her from a respectable distance I began my attempt to educate her. I wanted this woman to know that she could not talk to me any way that she chose and that all of her antics were unnecessary.
Well before I could get a complete sentence out she began screaming again and dialing 911. She was again screaming at the top of her lungs for me not to touch her. To get away from her. Then the bitch had the nerve to say that I was assaulting her. She repeated that over and over and over again. Then she started screaming you touched me stop it don't touch me. He's assaulting me. I never touched the bitch. One of the taxi attendants walked over and said "man it's not worth it". I agreed and with that I walked back into the baggage claim area.
5 seconds later one of the airport traffic cops walked in and asked me to come outside. He said that I needed to wait for the police to arrive to make a statement. What the fuck! A statement, why should I have to make a statement about that crazy bitch. I thought fast. There were mostly white people in the area and I could not count on them being a witness to my behavior. So I told them that the Taxi attendant was right there so make sure that they grabbed him to corroborate my statements. They compliied.
The airport cop walked back inside with me to get my bag and await the police. Not 5 minutes later 9 police officers had arrived. NINE! I kid you not! I explained to one Asian officer what happened and he asked me if she was on the plane with me or if I knew her. To both I answered no.
He then asked for my ID. I'm assuming so that I wouldn't run away. 6 of the other officers stayed behind while I still waited for my bag. The officer came back and gave me my ID and asked if I was leaving after I got my bag. Of course I was leaving you dumb ass. I don't live at the airport is what I wanted to say. But didn't.
He then told me that the reason there were so many officers was because they got a report of domestic violence. 1st of all I didn't know the woman nor did I touch her. It's beyond me why they hadn't contacted the airport cops...(traffic cops I guess) to find out the true situation before even coming to the spot. What also astonished me was how quickly they arrived and how they really thought that I did do something to the bitch. If I had done anything to her there would have been no question about it. I wanted to bang the bitches head into the plate glass window for screaming at me the way she was.
I never was able to completely understand why Bigger in Richard Wright's, Native Son killed Mary and the affect it had on him. This situation sort of brought the idea in Wright's book to light for me. Notes on that portion of the book read: Mary’s murder gives Bigger a sense of power and identity he has never known. I think my thoughts of making her head a plate glass smasher aligns with that statement to a certain extent. Especially since only 1 black person came to try to diffuse the situation at all. He must have felt what I was feeling before.
The funny thing was that I wasn't even embarrassed when she was screaming. Anyone in the area could see that she has some issues. There are a lot of analogies I could make from this situation and I'm sure that actually all of them apply.
Like I said life has a way of slapping you back into reality. America has not changed very much even though the media tries to make us think it has. Black men are still the villians and the crazy white bitches are still the victims.
Don't be fooled.
Artwork by BARBARA KINSEY
