OreoExperience and WhitePal facebook chat about their plans for the evening.
WhitePal: So I’ll be at the bar at 7?
I'll be waiting at the bar, with a single white rose and a little chip on my shoulder.
OreoExperience: Bar = Birds?
WP: Yup
OE: Great, I’ll be there, too.
WP: How shall I know it’s you?
OE: yellow flower? red handkerchief? oh, and I’ll probably be the only black person there.
WP: That’s probably true….We could always go to Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles–it’s just up the street and then you can be the only white person there.
(beat)
OE: I’m putting this on the blog.
WP: Really?
…Yup, this just got meta, y’all.
This is actually one of my favorite things to bring up the first time I’m meeting someone new. Especially before facebook, when I would get to know someone–usually because of work–over the phone and we’d eventually decide to meet up for coffee or something. We’d make plans and they’d say something like “Okay, well I have short brown hair and I’m wearing jeans and green button down shirt.”
I would pause and say “I’m black.”
“OH!! Okay, okay, sorry…right on.” They’d say something like that. I’m assuming the ‘sorry’ was not them apologizing for me being black, but rather for feeling like they made me mention it. I, however, accepted it for the former and not the latter.
We did not go to Roscoe’s this weekend, but click here to see what happened the last time I did. Short story: They did not recognize my Oreoness. 😦
******
The Oreo Experience 
well… you kinda started the race thing, your white pal finished it tho…
You say you’re black, like it’s a bad thing. Like you are warning them about some physical deformity…
Once again – I was this close to having a liquid coming out my nose. Quit being so damn funny, seriously!
I thought about this, and if someone were to say “I’m Black” to me, I’d probably say something really unhelpful, like, “Oh, cool! I teach at an HBCU!” (implying what exactly?), or “OK, well, that should be easy then” (even if that was interpreted to meant “recognizing you”, it’s still bad in so many ways), or the totally obtuse, “ooooh-kaay, and…?”