Member-only story
I gave a ride to a racist
Charity and correction combined
Last Sunday I gave an elderly couple a ride to church. I talk about my experience with the wife in this story. She was obese and could not buckle her seat belt. This made her cry. Her husband teased her about it, calling her “Big Momma”. I think he actually meant it as a term of endearment!
After church, as I took them home, his insensitivity again came to the fore. I asked him how he liked his new home. It was in a retirement community.
“I like it a lot better than my last place,” he said.
“Oh, how come?” I asked.
“There were too many Hispanics there,” he said.
Now, please note that I am of Indian heritage. Because of my skin tone, many times I am mistaken for being Hispanic. So this guy didn’t just make a racist comment about Latinos, he made one with a possible Latino right there, giving him a ride home from church!
“Do you have a problem with Hispanics?” I looked him in the eye for a moment, before turning back to the road.
He fidgeted in his seat. “No,” he said. “It’s just that they were so noisy.”
“Was it because there were young families living in that neighborhood?”
