Color Blind

Years and years ago,  I worked in a large department store selling men's shoes.  Actually, it seems I spent more time giving directions to other sections of the store than I did selling anything.  One day, an older gentleman asked me where he could purchase socks.  I pointed to another sales associate on the other side of our department and told him the socks were next to the belts and "behind that man."

"That black man?" he asked.

I nodded and said, "That man in the navy suit."

"That black man?" he repeated.  

"That tall man in the navy suit," I replied.  

"That black man over there?"

Another nod, and still pointing in the right direction.  "That tall man in the navy suit with the red tie."  

Now you have to understand, this was a pretty dead time in the store.  There were no other men in our section.  The only man I could possibly be pointing at is tall, in a navy suit and standing next to the belts.  And, yes, he happens to be black.  But why does his race have to be the confirmation I give?  I don't know why this customer's questions bothered me, but I didn't want to acknowledge my friend's race, to give in to the easy way out.  This back-and-forth seemed to go on for a ridiculous amount of time- the customer asking about the associate's race and I giving further physical clues.  Finally, the older man was able to find and purchase his socks.  I don't think this man was racist.  I simply think that he was a product of his time- a time when race is the first thing anyone noticed in another person.

I think our time is different.  Not different enough, but we're heading in the right direction.  Forty years after Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, our country has elected a man of "color" to it's highest political office.  I, personally, did not vote for Barack Obama.  I do not share his political views at all and disagree fundamentally with just about everything he stands for.  That is why I voted the way I did.  I feel that most Americans cast their votes for or against the Republican and Democratic nominees for the same reasons I did, not because of "the color of [the nominee's] skin, but by the content of their character."  

I will honor and support the office of the President of the United States of America.  I am disappointed that the nominee I supported was not elected.  But I am very pleased and grateful that we live in a time when I can choose between John McCain and "that one."  Not "that black man."