Case of The Pink People

I seriously watch too much T.V , my newest reality addiction is the Ice Cube produced Black & White.The whole premise is good, but the people look ridiculous in my opinion. If I saw either of these families in the streets I am not sure I would be convinced that either is black or white. Just about every episode of this show, has moments that make me squirm or cringe. It amazes and angers me how some white people are still so closed-minded and ignorant of their own prejudices. Everytime I watch this show, I think back to an incident that happen to me maybe about a year ago.

I was at one of the malls here in Saint Louis, called the St.Louis Galleria. I was shopping with a friend of mine and we were going store to store, browsing and buying things. My friend who happened to be a female, spotted some new exotic candle store that she wanted to go in. I really wasn't in the mood to smell candles and fruity scents, but I went in against my will to accommodate my friend. I walked in the store and just stood back while she smelled all the candles and looked around. We probably stayed in the store for about 5 minutes max. We leave the store and proceed to the other end of the mall.

We ended up in another girl store (Lerners I think). We are in there for about 10 minutes. I'm standing near the entrance of the store on my cellphone waiting for my friend to get done trying on clothes and browsing the racks. All of a sudden in front of everybody, 4 security guards surround me. I quickly hang up my cellphone, not sure what's going on. Then I see a white man emerge from behind one of the guards. One of the guards say, "Is this the guy?" The white man replies, "Yes". The white man was the manager of the candle store that we had left like 20 minutes ago. The white man then said, "A customer said he saw you take and put some candles in your jean pockets." I replied calmly, "I didn't take and put anything from your store in my pocket." The white man appeared to be nervous. The security guards then asked the white man, "Do you want to search him?" I looked at the white man as he begin to pat my jean pockets. Meanwhile my friend is looking on in disbelief while customers are stopping to see whats going on, whispering back and forth between one another. I was officially humiliated. The white man gets done searching me and says, "I didn't find anything." Two of the four security guards laugh as they all began to walk away. No apology or anything, for harassing me.

I stood there for a moment in shock, I couldn't believe what just happened. After that, I just really wanted to go home. It wasn't until a few hours later, that I was at home and all the coulda, woulda, shoulda started to set in. I should have gotten the white man's name. I should have reported him to the police. I should have sued. I do regret how I handled that situation and if it were to happen now, the outcome would be bigger and greater. All I can do now, is be aware that Racisim is alive and well, and I don't think it will ever completely go away.