Reply #49: I'm a tall white straight guy. [View All]

[hunter]

My wife, and many of our friends, are not. My world is not the same as theirs. I've seen so much through their eyes -- too much bigotry directed toward them. I can walk into a shop just a little bit behind my wife, and the salesperson will ignore her and welcome me. Little things like this happen all of the time.

I've never been harassed by department store security while I'm hanging out doing nothing while my wife is shopping nearby. I have a friend who is black who doesn't like shopping with his wife (who is white) because this is common. If he wanders too far from her side he becomes instantly suspicious to store security.

Alert, alert! Unaccompanied black man loitering in aisle 12!

I'll never experience a DWB. Almost everyone I know who isn't white has been pulled over by the police for no good reason. The community I grew up in was notorious for this. Nice car, not white... well... you must be up to no good.

We go out with friends who are gay and I see their entire demeanors change depending where we are. It's automatic with them, a self protective reflex; it's safe to hold hands here, not safe to hold hands there...

Anyone who thinks bigotry is fading away in the United States is fooling themselves. You hear that claim a lot from dense white guys calling talk radio shows, that bigotry is a rare thing now. And sometimes you read it on DU.