Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Cheese and Crackers

Apologies for not blogging as often as I should but Mr. Billy Reuben and Mr. D-Lane have captured my attention and there seem to be not enough hours in the day to get everything done that I have to get done. So, apologies, to my loyal readers and I will try to be more diligent.

That being said, I was going to write a huge rant about the elections and my disgust with them, both in Florida and the rest of the country, but I have come to the conclusion that this is a good thing. It's a good thing because, by 2012, the country will be so far down the shitter that a Democrat is guaranteed to win. That's how I see it (or at least what I tell myself to stop from crying and pulling out my hair at the same time).

Anyhoo, I thought I would relay an interesting conversation I had the other day while standing in line at my local Walgreens. I was there picking up medicine for Dante as, for reasons unknown to me, since starting school, he has been a magnet for every germ known to man and thus was home sick (again). I was on line waiting to pay. In front of me the "Milk Guy" was settling up with the cashier both in his deliveries and in getting her number for later on in the evening. Nice looking guy, looked exactly like Snoop Dogg (but not as tall) and extremely enthusiastic about the elections taking place that day. The conversation went as follows:



Milk Guy (to cashier girl): Girl, you best remember to vote today on your break! Don't forget girl. I'll hit you up later after you vote! Just don't forget to vote.

Cashier Girl: Pffffffffffft. I don't know nothin' about no votin'.

Me: Are you serious?!? Girl, you have to vote! It's important!

Cashier Girl: Mmm-hmmm. I don't know nothing' about no votin'. For real.

Milk Guy: Girl, you crazy! It don't matter that Obama is President. The crackers are trying to take over and run the world.

Me (with a neck roll): HOLD UP! This "cracker" (pointing to myself) voted for Obama.

Milk Guy: Nah, nah, nah ma. I didn't mean it like that. I meant like the rednecks and shit.

Me (with a broader neck roll): Hold Up Again! I married a "redneck" who voted for Obama!

Milk Guy: For real? Uhhhh, well you know...

Me: No. I don't "know". The words you are using are just as bad as if I were sitting here saying that "n***ers" ( I didn't say it, I spelled it) were taking over the country and that Obama hates white people. You sound just like the "cracker rednecks" you claim to know so well. You're as bad as they are.

Milk Guy: Shit. I guess you right, girl. I'm sorry. Fight the Power! (raises fist walks out)

Me (to cashier girl): You really need to vote and know what is going on. The politicians running today are going to take us, as women, and you as a black woman back to the 1800s, where we have no control over our bodies and minorities are subjected to abject poverty while the rich get richer and those who need help don't get it. You really should be aware of what is going on.

Cashier Girl: $29.50 please.


*sigh* I tried. I really did. There has to be a way to motivate people to want to get involved and want to know who and what is going on. I mean, this woman wasn't a teenager. She was probably late 20's or so and was completely oblivious. On the flip side, Milk Guy was enthusiastic (maybe a little misguided as to who the real "enemy" is) but he was raring to go, wearing his "I voted" sticker proudly, and rallying up anyone in earshot. The question is, how do we get that? In EVERYONE?

As I walked out to my car, I saw Milk Guy loading his truck, blasting Public Enemy's "Fight the Power" from the "It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back" album (one of my personal favorites) and as he looked over at me and I was rapping along, word for word, to Chuck D's licks, I heard him say, "Girl, you all right!"

For a cracker.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I be the "cracker B" (who bitches about the school board wasting money, the legislature strong-arming the school board, & the testing/textbook industry that just puts money in already fat pockets). They just tell me to shut up.

krissiecook said...

Oh man, I wish I were there to watch that. The whole thing. Seriously. And it really makes me miss South Florida. My new digs are 98% white. Honestly.