“Yellow. I see a yellow”

My sister-in-law who is Korean, came to this country as a child, posted this on Facebook:

I was walking into the Mustang Walmart store and this customer wearing jean overalls with a big fat belly started saying “Yellow. I see a yellow. Hey yellow. Do you see a yellow. Hey you I’m talking to you”
So I looked straight into his eyes, smiled and walked away. After that he didn’t say anything.

It pisses me off how ignorant people can be! Why is it always The small town rednecks??

FYI – Mustang, Oklahoma is a small town that is basically a suburb of Oklahoma City.

I suppose redneck can be construed as a pejorative term.  It is also a term I apply to myself occasionally in this big city of St. Louis.  Funny thing about St. Louis is that you get 5 minutes outside the metro area and Missouri is as redneck as anywhere you can name.

I did find it interesting that she used the term ignorant. One of the best friends I have had in this life is a black man who lives in Mississippi.  When he talks about racist people or attitudes it is the term he uses, ignorant.  I always thought he was being charitable by using this term, but I suppose it is a wonderful, non-racist way of dealing with it.

Later in response to a comment she posted this:

I’m gonna keep trying to be nice. Don’t feel sorry for me because I’m different; I guess I am an alien because even though I look Korean if I go to Korea they don’t treat me as a Korean because I speak differently and in America even though I am a citizen of America they don’t treat me as an American because I don’t look like them

I struggled learning English when I first came to America and had to deal with a lot of bullying and being called racist names(at high school) not at home I’m the only one of my sisters who still speaks with an accent because I didn’t want to talk. What happened to me at Wal Mart brought a lot of memories back. My accent is something that I am proud of because it’s my story, it’s who I am

Racism is part of the American story and, honestly, part of the American fabric.  I am old enough, and Southern enough, to remember signs that read “For Whites Only”, etc.  Even though I was just learning to read, I knew there was something wrong about these signs.  Then to my white perspective  this type of racism started being less acceptable.  Folks at least gave lip service to the idea that skin color should not define your place in society. I have no way to quantify it, but it does seem to me that openly expressing your racism has become much more common in the last few years.  We do not need to be going backwards on this.  Rodney King had it right when he asked the question, “can we all get along?” Who knows in this environment, but we should and must.

I am sorry she had to deal with it, but I am glad she handled it so gracefully. The gentleman in Walmart needs to be looking around.  The United States of 2020 is a  among the most racially diverse countries on the planet. It is something we should be celebrating.   I personally love the mix of cultures here in St. Louis.

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