“Who’s your friend, James?” the bartender asked. James Rivers and I had just walked into a bar where the only white face in the crowd was mine. James just smiled and pointed at a bar stool and for me to sit down. “Give us two Dewar’s with water back.” James said as he sat next to me. The bartender shook his head but soon came back and set the drinks in front of us. Looking over at me James could tell I was uncomfortable and gave me another big grin, “How’s it feel, big guy? Being the only one of your kind in the bar?” I shrugged, I knew he was enjoying this, and, in my mind, he had every right to do so.
Us being here had come about when James and I had been out hitting the bars the night before. It had started when we came to a red neck bar on Third Street. James had not wanted to go in, but I had insisted, “Listen, man, they serve a mean drink in this joint and all that prejudice stuff doesn’t exist anymore. I see black guys in here all the time.” James shook his head in disgust but went along as I headed past the door man, not noticing the look he gave my partner.
Once at the bar I ordered the house specialty drink, Long Island Iced Tea, a drink with a mellow name that does not belie the 4 different boozes in it that make it lethal. But it was one of my favorites, so here we were. As James fiddled with his drink, I noticed him looking around as if he was expecting trouble and I just shook my head, “Man, you are jumpy. No one is going to start anything here.” But even as I said this, I noticed guys at the pool table giving us sideways glances. I shrugged it off, just a bunch of redneck losers, I thought.
Before he had finished his drink, James said, “Come on, man, let’s get out of here. This place is giving me the creeps.” I was getting annoyed and said, “This is all in your head, James, people have gotten past all that black and white stuff. Can’t we at least finish these and then go.” At that James smiled and said, “Sure, partner, as long as you let me pick the bar we go to tomorrow.” For a moment I felt a twinge of fear, but I was not about to show it, “Yeah, my friend, you get to pick the bars tomorrow night. Let’s finish this drink.”
For some reason I became more aware of my surroundings after that. James and I did not say much but as I looked around, I thought I was seeing more of those sideways glances and whispered conversations that seemed to be directed at us. Shaking my head again, I thought, “Man you are getting as bad as James. It is all in your head.”
Now as I sat in this bar a night later, I noticed all the same things that I was sure was my imagination the night before. But now I was convinced they were real. I was not welcome here and it was not some shadowy thing. I had to admit, what James must feel every time he entered a predominantly white place was the way I was feeling right now. How could I have missed it?
Prejudice. It is a word most of us in this politically correct world don’t like to talk about. For me I grew up with it. My father was probably one of the most bigoted men I have ever known. He used all the words and actions that portrayed all the ugliness of this plague. I also grew up in a time of change. The civil rights era of the 1960’s. So, from so many sources I was seeing the ugliness of prejudice. But wasn’t all that happening in the south? Police with water hoses and batons. Dogs tearing up defenseless people. Lynching and death. Wasn’t my father just an aberration. Northern folks aren’t like that. But, of course, it wasn’t true. Soon the fires of riots were burning in the north and I became more aware that this was a real thing even in my backyard. I wanted to join the protests against it and did. And like so many of us thought my good deeds helped end this curse once and for all as the protests of 60’s and early 70’s turned to the ‘me’ generation of the 1980’s.
But like all Satan’s work there is no social cure for something so deep that it is recorded in the Book of Numbers, of the Old Testament, “Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman. (Numbers 12:1) Miriam and Aaron, Moses sister and brother, judged a woman for the color of her skin and the race she came from. Sound familiar? It led to much ugliness and jealousy. Miriam and Aaron trying a power play against their own brother. In the end God cursed them both for their self-centeredness. Does God feel any different about what we do today?
In Jesus time the Jews hated the Samaritans. Yet Jesus picked that place and a Samaritan woman to reveal He was the Messiah. Not enough room to write it here but read all about it in the gospel of John 4: 3-32. Jesus traveled into foreign places where Jews did not go because of fear of becoming unclean. Healing the Demoniac (Mark 5: 1-20), feeding the four thousand (Mark 8: 1-13) and healings of the Roman servant (Luke 7: 1-10) and the Syrophoenician woman’s daughter (Matthew 15: 21-28) And Jesus died to save ALL, 16For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) No exclusion or prejudice allowed.
I learned a lesson in that bar long ago. The deep-set prejudice that is in all races still existed. James and I stayed friends until his untimely death 20 years or more ago now. He often reminded me that I needed to have an open mind. Today, I am blessed to know that salvation is offered to all of us and if my eyes are on the Savior the only color, I see is the white robes washed in His blood. He is coming soon, and it is my desire that ALL will be saved no matter color, creed or even unbelieve. I am praying for it!
Blessings and Happy Sabbath,
John
2/8/19
