color blues

daphne and i were out in kansas city a few weekends ago visiting family. several of daphne’s old acquaintances dropped by on our first night there.

there was a retired couple just back from vacation in porta vallarta (the man called it “porta varta”). he was bitching up a storm while his wife smiled and nodded her head with her hands crossed like june cleaver.

“they don’t know how to make mexican food down there,” he said with an exasperated drawl. “you figure with all them people comin’ here eatin’ our food, they would go back and teach them how to cook!”

we were stunned. we couldn’t believe the shit we were hearing. i was only half listening when i heard daphne mumbled something to try to steer the conversation in a more civilized direction.

which reminds me when daphne got so exasperated with all the staring she got in chinatown when we’re on our grocery run that she wanted to take a sharpie to her forehead and announce: “yes, i am not chinese!”

which reminds of me the time when this granny-looking white woman with coke bottle glasses told my ex, who is light-skinned, and me to our face how “them colored couldn’t be trusted.”

or the time my ex was told by one of the neighborhood thugs that she’s a “traitor” to her people.

or the rage i nursed for months after i was jumped by 4 punks for my wallet in front of nyu library in broad daylight. cops later told me these kids would regularly take the green line from chinatown, flip a “yellow-on-yellow” hit-and-run, and disappear back down the subway.

so, what does it all mean? i’m not sure, really. i know i’m pissed just thinking about these things, but i am also anxious to right the wrong somehow. while none of these tunes captures my exact sentiment, together they do approximate a reaction. jaguar wright’s neo-soul nugget, “same shit, different day, pt. 2” from “denials, delusions, and decisions” (mca, 2001) nicely sums up my frustration, even if not exactly on topic. if more sociologically inclined, i may find solace in steinski’s twist on 3rd bass’ “product of the environment” (nothing to fear, soul ting, 2002), or just find enlightenment in cuban dance dynamo los van van’s interpretation of “llegue llegue guararey de pastoria” on “latin beats: a tribute to tito puente” (mr. bongo, 2000) and the late ghana highlife star joe mensah’s mercurial “africa is home” (ghana soundz vol. 2, soundway, 2004), both instructive and satisfying rebuttal to ignorance everywhere. we all have so much to learn.

Posted by cellpharmer at May 13, 2005 08:35 PM