Long time ago when I was living in Atlanta, I moved into this predominantly white neighborhood. I was minding my own business, unpacking my belongings, and trying to decorate the place. After a few hours, I heard someone knocking on my door, introducing himself as “Lucas.” He stated to me that he and his wife lived next door and that they’ve lived in the neighborhood for years.
Since he seemed friendly at first, I introduced myself and told him a little bit about where I was from. It seemed like he was being just a nice ‘Welcome to the Neighborhood’ type of person, right?
Well, it was what he said in his last statement that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up: He said, “Over in this neighborhood, we are used to certain customs. So we just don’t want any trouble over here.” Immediately, I knew exactly what he meant when he said that and I was rather insulted. However, I still felt the need to ask him, “What do you mean when you say that you don’t want any trouble?”
He answered, “Well, we just don’t like a bunch of fighting and a lot of noise.”
Instead of acting like the angry “Black” woman like I’m sure he expected, I simply ended the conversation by informing him that I needed to get back to unpacking. Of course, my mood was pretty messed up for the rest of the day but I was still glad that I handled the matter in a non-violent way. For those of you that may not understand why I felt disrespected by his statement, let me explain:
As a Black woman, I have grown accustomed to knowing the real meaning behind certain statements that white people have the tendency to make. Because I was a Black woman moving into a predominantly white neighborhood, he automatically thought that I was going to bring ‘trouble’ to the neighborhood, which is why he said, “We just don’t want any trouble over here.”
What he didn’t know was that I moved to the neighborhood so that I wouldn’t be bothered with trouble either! But because of the pigmentation in my skin, he thought that I was going to be just another ‘Black girl’ with an attitude, fighting in the streets, talking loud and ghetto, finger snappin’, neck rollin’, with a trail of kids behind me by six different men.
What he also didn’t know was that I’m an author, college graduate, I’m ambitious, I feed the homeless, and I love God. Of course, I didn’t owe him an introduction of myself but it angered me to know that he was more interested in knowing whether or not I would terrorize the neighborhood, as if ALL Black people are nothing but heartless thugs. Well, here’s my theory:
- The REAL thugs are those police officers that have no problem shooting innocent Black people like Michael Brown and supporting it. THEY are the ones that are terrorizing the neighborhoods.
- The REAL thugs are those police officers that feel the need to abuse their authority by finding whatever reason they can to brutalize a Black person.
- The REAL thugs are those that dress in white sheets with white hoods over their faces, lynching and killing Black people out of pure hatred.
- The REAL thugs are the judges that send innocent Black men and women to prison to be a part of modern-day slavery.
- The REAL thugs are the ones that kick Black people out of restaurants because a couple of white patrons feel “threatened” just by their presence.
But…maybe I’m wrong. America, what are your thoughts?
Sonica
Fresh AveNew 