Posted by (+6113) 13 years ago
I went with my son Kasey to McDonald's on Southgate (in Billings) tonight. We decided to go inside since the drive-thru line was several cars long. It gave me an opportunity to give my soon-to-be 5-year old a ride on my shoulders (he's getting big, and I'm getting old . there are only so many more years I can do that
).
While we were standing in the lobby, waiting for our order to come up, I felt/heard a "pat-pat-pat-pat-pat" on my son's behind along with a "gitchee-gitchee-goo" voice. I turned around, expecting to see someone at least somewhat familiar - a friend or relative or, at the very least, a person whom I would expect to pat my son's rear end.
Instead, I saw a somewhat disheveled (and obviously intoxicated) middle-aged woman of a certain ethnicity, along with 3-4 younger males of the same race in an equal state of marijuana-induced altered reality. I immediately spun around fully as to put myself between them and Kasey and told the woman in no uncertain terms not to touch my son again.
To this, she gave me a pie-eyed smile and more gobbledy-gook. I told her that I didn't know who she was, she didn't know who we were and as a stranger, she had no right to lay her hands on my child. As I said this, one of her companions said, "White Power, man," as he made a motion to roll up his sleeve and gestured to show me an invisible KKK tattoo. "I'm part white, too." His friends chuckled. (He was not white).
I didn't have the slightest problem with the color of their skin or any other aspect of their race. I could care less. What bothered me was that the woman felt as though she had the right to touch my son and then acted upon that perceived privilege. It infuriated me that she and her companions immediately played the race card, thinking that the only possible reason I would ever object to a complete stranger touching my son was because they were minorities.
The male got in my face and was asked to leave by the management of McDonald's, who later said the group had been disruptive with numerous other patrons before my arrival. Kasey was still on my shoulders when the "gentleman" and I were chest-to-chest, so there wasn't much I would have been able to do. Fortunately, enough people had gathered around the scene that he felt compelled to exit the restaurant without much further posturing.
He and his buddies uttered a few more racially-charged mutterings on their way out and commented that they were being thrown out "for no reason," that McDonald's and I were "prejudiced," and that they'd be contacting the Better Business Bureau.
The point of my story is two-fold: First - most rational people realize that it is never okay to touch another person's child without permission unless the child is in imminent danger (i.e. wandering out into the street; about to touch something hot; etc.). Second - why is it that people feel compelled to play the "race card" when it only makes them look like the ass in the scenario? I don't get it.
Thoughts? Similar experiences worth sharing?

While we were standing in the lobby, waiting for our order to come up, I felt/heard a "pat-pat-pat-pat-pat" on my son's behind along with a "gitchee-gitchee-goo" voice. I turned around, expecting to see someone at least somewhat familiar - a friend or relative or, at the very least, a person whom I would expect to pat my son's rear end.
Instead, I saw a somewhat disheveled (and obviously intoxicated) middle-aged woman of a certain ethnicity, along with 3-4 younger males of the same race in an equal state of marijuana-induced altered reality. I immediately spun around fully as to put myself between them and Kasey and told the woman in no uncertain terms not to touch my son again.

To this, she gave me a pie-eyed smile and more gobbledy-gook. I told her that I didn't know who she was, she didn't know who we were and as a stranger, she had no right to lay her hands on my child. As I said this, one of her companions said, "White Power, man," as he made a motion to roll up his sleeve and gestured to show me an invisible KKK tattoo. "I'm part white, too." His friends chuckled. (He was not white).
I didn't have the slightest problem with the color of their skin or any other aspect of their race. I could care less. What bothered me was that the woman felt as though she had the right to touch my son and then acted upon that perceived privilege. It infuriated me that she and her companions immediately played the race card, thinking that the only possible reason I would ever object to a complete stranger touching my son was because they were minorities.
The male got in my face and was asked to leave by the management of McDonald's, who later said the group had been disruptive with numerous other patrons before my arrival. Kasey was still on my shoulders when the "gentleman" and I were chest-to-chest, so there wasn't much I would have been able to do. Fortunately, enough people had gathered around the scene that he felt compelled to exit the restaurant without much further posturing.
He and his buddies uttered a few more racially-charged mutterings on their way out and commented that they were being thrown out "for no reason," that McDonald's and I were "prejudiced," and that they'd be contacting the Better Business Bureau.
The point of my story is two-fold: First - most rational people realize that it is never okay to touch another person's child without permission unless the child is in imminent danger (i.e. wandering out into the street; about to touch something hot; etc.). Second - why is it that people feel compelled to play the "race card" when it only makes them look like the ass in the scenario? I don't get it.

Thoughts? Similar experiences worth sharing?
