She Thought I am a Racist

By Douglas V. Gibbs
Author, Speaker, Instructor, Radio Host
Over the weekend I had a couple friends help me with my rear brakes on my car. Also, on Saturday I performed my radio program from my house, because not only was I working on my brakes, but I was also babysitting my grandkids. During the program I asked the kids to keep it to a low roar, and that if they complied with my request I would get them ice cream. During the show the only noises in the background was the occasional rustlings and singing of the youngest of the three grandchildren, and the continuous barking of the dog in the background. My dog does not like strangers, and since my co-host was in the dining room with me performing the radio show, because Dennis was also helping me with my brakes, the dog was barking during the entire program. If you go to the podcast you can hear it.  For some listeners it was a little annoying, for others it was downright funny.  I shrugged it off.  The show must go on, you know, regardless of distractions or barking dogs.

By the time I got finished for the day, and my wife got home from work, we realized we were not going to finish the brakes because it took all day to get the drum off.  It was too late and too cold to get the children ice cream, as well.  My wife, a.k.a. Grandma, said so.  So, I told the children I would get them their ice cream the next day.

Sunday morning a different friend showed up who turns out to be an ASE Master Mechanic, and he helped me finish off the brakes. I took him out to lunch, then by the time we got back again it was too cold according to Grandma and so the kids missed out on ice cream, again.

After a couple meetings on Monday, I came home at 2 p.m. in the afternoon. The Sun was shining, it was warm out, and Grandma was not home to botch up my attempt to take the kids out.  The moment I walked in they called for me to live up to my promise, so I decided I would immediately.  They asked their daddy (my son) if they could go to get ice cream with Grandpa, he said yes, and off we went.

Once we had ice cream cones in hand, we decided to go to the park. After they finished their ice cream they played on the outdoor equipment at the park, such as the slides and the poles to slide down. As they played and I watched them a woman walked up with her dog. She was simply walking her dog and I greeted her with a hello. She hesitantly said hello back.

She was an older black woman who had recently moved into the area 7 months ago. I struck up a conversation by asking her about her dog.  I commented he looked like a Lhasa Apso. She said he was a Lhasa Apso - Shih Tzu mix. I then chatted with her about how much the area had changed over the years. I moved into the Rancho California area in 1989, before the cities of Temecula and Murrieta were officially incorporated.  Back then, I told her, there was maybe one or two stop lights in the whole area.  Our little tract of homes covered about a three-block area, and we were pretty much it between Murrieta Hot Springs Road and the City of Hemet. I joked and said the only thing between Hemet and us was a bunch of bison, and if you're from the area going way back you know what I mean.

As the conversation proceeded she became more comfortable talking to me and explained where she came from (big city) and she asked my why the houses in our area are so big. I explained that my house, which is located in what was the very first tract of homes in the area, is barely over a thousand square feet. But as the boom happened in the nineties the competition became fierce and at the home building became a massive game of competition about who can make the biggest, baddest home with the most bedrooms and bathrooms. The bathrooms in some of the newer homes bigger than the bedrooms my kids inhabited when they still lived in my house.

We laughed about the fact that they succeeded, and sold many homes because of it.

She then asked me about the bumper sticker on the back window of my car. She said, "Looking at your Trump sticker in your back window I thought you were a racist."

Now, I understand that we all have our own prejudices or discriminations. But, the idea that if someone votes for someone who is actually not racist, but disagrees with your political views, they are somehow automatically racist is ridiculous.

We chatted about politics a little, after all I am The Constitution Guy, and I explained to her my view from a constitutional perspective, and why I have come to those conclusions.  I even ventured into certain statistics which explains that the more liberal the government is, the higher the poverty rate. California is a great example.

Truth is, when a society has a moral compass, it is more prosperous.

In the black community in homes where there is a single parent the poverty rate is 37%. In homes we're both parents are home it is 8%. In black community homes were both parents are in the house and they both work the rate is 5%. I looked her in the eye and said, "The problem is not racism, the problem is not adhering to the rule of law, natural rights, and ultimately God's moral expectations."

She agreed.  Based on our conversation I surmised she is a Democrat voter, but I think the short Constitution lesson may have planted a seed. It's amazing what the truth can do sometimes, or as they say, "The truth shall set you free."

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary