no matter what, we're different

i try to be the least racist person on the planet. i try hard. i don't always succeed, but i try. i still have prejudices. racial epithets come to my mind in certain situations. i just don't say them and i remind myself why i shouldn't even think of them.

that's why when my friend esperanza called me and asked me to come to her concert at the sweet auburn festival, i was determined to go. it would be one more way i could strive to bring two races together.

held just blocks from where martin luther king grew up, preached at ebenezer baptist church and is now buried, this is a street festival in the middle of downtown. the atmosphere was very ethnic. the wares from arts and craftsmen certainly were tailored to black people. very little was available for those of another race.

sure, there was an ice-cream truck. eclipse gum was giving free samples. and though the food was ethnic, it was certainly edible for most.

but all this made me think. my first thought, being white, was why there weren't more white people there? joshua, wendell and myself strolled through. why couldn't others?

before wendell arrived, joshua and i walked to dr. king's grave site, the first time i had been since i moved to atlanta five years ago. it was humbling. it was neat.

but on the way there you notice so much. you notice bars on windows. thugs were literally fighting in the streets. a woman who appeared to be homeless and intoxicated rocked on the concrete sidewalk bothering no one.

as we stopped in a store for chips, i couldn't help but feel what other minorites certainly feel when they're in a different area. clerks stared. two other customers seated at gambling machines stared hard. very hard. it was uncomfortable. i never felt unsafe. but i did feel out of place.

which, i guess, answers my question. we can live alongside each other but not with each other. we're different, the most of us are. the new question is, how can we change that? should we even try? and will it ever happen if we do?

i'm sure it's that way with many festivals. take the gay pride festivals. certainly there are straight allies out there. but how many of the them do you imagine feel the same "out of place" feeling i had? have we done anything to change that? have we even thought about their feelings to attempt to change it?

i think many times we're too selfish to stop and realize that we can be proud, no matter who we are. but until we stop and help people understand why we're proud to be who we are, where we've come from and why it that we're wanting to go where we're wanting to go and invite those different to be a part... we'll be apart.

i challenge everyone who reads this to do something to bridge the gap, no matter who it seperates.

by the way... esperanza was awesome. i only know her and b-mac out of her band... and she didn't sing sacrifice. but she was a nice cap to a day out of the ordinary.