I’m not completely done with the “We’re All In This Together” segments because I have way too many friends that have been making strides in their chosen path. However, I do want to talk about something interesting that has happened to me over the week and how coming to a gay bar (the only gay that I go to in Philadelphia) has helped me bounce back from it.
Okay, so allow me to restate the obvious: I’m a black man. Strike that, I’m a gay black man. Well…technically, I’m mixed with four distinctive ethnicities but I’m quick to tell people that I’m mostly black. This part is important because, while I was working a job, my “level of blackness” was called into question in the most insulting way that I have ever experienced in my life.
See, it’s pretty telling that I’m a nerd through and through. I mean, my twitter account describes as a Class A nerd and I take great pride in it. I’ve never been arrested. My Central High School diploma and Bachelor’s are some of my greatest accomplishments. I’m an avid gaymer and reader. You guys already know that I love to write stories (just stink at the grammar section). I got to travel around the states, meet new people, learn many many many new things that I can teach future generations. And, because of all that, I had the pleasure of having the cruelest black man tell me that I’m the sorriest excuse for a black man because I don’t anything that a black man does. In other words, I don’t fit the stereotype and I shouldn’t call myself a black man. Worst yet, he proceeds to undermine every single of my accomplishments but expressing that “black people don’t do this/that” in the most hateful way possible. I mean, this guy took “Crabs In A Barrel” to a whole new level and he made sure that it got to me. And, you know what, it ALMOST worked.
I say almost because I walked into BoxerPHL and a pint with a random stranger, another black gay man. He saw that I was itching to talk about my day and gave me a sign to vent. After telling him what happened at work, the man shook his head and gave me a reminder and lesson:
“Because of everything that’s happened in this world, and to our people, we think that we don’t deserve to make advances in our life. So, when someone does, and in wonderful ways, they think it messes with the ‘new order’ and has to put in check. But, people seem to forget that history has shown us what we’re capable of and I wish people won’t lose sight of that.” (The conversation was longer than that but you get the point).
I couldn’t help to chuckle at that. Here I am, feeling sorry for myself and it took a complete stranger to remind me that I’m put on this earth for a reason. That I’m here to make advancements for future generations to piggyback on and to do the same. Screw that insufferable, uneducated, uninspiring wanker. He doesn’t get the right to strip me of all my pride and happiness just because he doesn’t have any in life. Now, I feel reinvigorated and ready to begin a new.
Please, don’t forget to follow me on my social media platforms (Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads) which are on the right side of my web page. Also, I do love hearing suggestions of what books to read outside of my norm (Science fiction and fantasy) as I am a part of the Goodreads’ reading challenge for 2018.
Also, I have a lot of books to review and talk about you, guys, so be on the lookout for that in the coming weeks…that and a game I finished.
