So this baffled me today when I went into Pep Boys in hampton, to get a few car items. I noticed a black man kinda just lurking around the store, and like always I am very observant when I carry so he just caught my attention from the get go, kinda a shady looking fella in my opinion, nothing new i guess for the Hampton Roads area. Anyways, he had on a pretty big wife beater, baggy black jeans that hung down to his ass, and what threw me completely off guard was the holsterd firearm he was open carrying. Now i know appearance is everything when carrying a loaded weapon and this just blew my mind that someone would go out like this carrying. I mean the holster was way to big for the gun. I figured either the gun was going to fall out of the holster or if he would of let go of his pants the weight of the gun would have just pull his pants down the rest of the way. This just shocked me so much i ended up just leaving the store and went to auto zone and personally this makes me feel like this is the reason people look down on open carrying. Sorry for venting but this just kinda pissed me off and thought i would share my anger a little bit.
Anyways, opened carried to Pep Boys :/, Auto zone then to target in hampton.
What caught my attention was not that the gentleman was wearing a particular kind of shirt, but that he was described as a black man. Like, he's got to be up to no good - if he were white, it'd be ok; but in an auto parts store as a black guy, now that's suspicious behavior!
And I know this is going to come as a shocker, but a lot of people who frequent auto parts stores do so because they do their own auto repair work. And many of them do their own auto repair work because they can't afford to pay someone else to do it for them, and their own time is all they've got. Such people may well be unable to buy the proper Galco holster for the handgun they've got, because they can't afford to spring the eighty bucks for a new holster.
Here's another news item: the behavior the OP regarded as "lurking around" in the store may have simply been a gesture of humility or worse, a reflection of the gentleman's feeling that he's not good enough to stride up to the counter and demand service. Obviously, there were well-dressed, important white folks there in the store who deserved to be served first, simply because they're well-dressed white folks. I hope he was really just trying to find the correct oil filter, and not "lurking" at all. But I've known people well who behaved the way I described out of the feeling that they were not "good enough". And those white folks - especially the well-dressed, important, white folks; you never can tell just how they'll react to a person who's minding his own business and trying to find the correct oil filter without demanding help from the staff.
Kind of reminds me of being in the Fairfax GDC traffic court and hearing the Fx Co PD officers standing around and joking about guys they'd picked up along Richmond Highway (Rt 1, also known as Jeff Davis Hghwy) South of Alexandria for "DWB" (driving while black).
I apologize if my occasional sarcasm has offended anyone, but this one touched a nerve.
What caught my attention was not that the gentleman was wearing a particular kind of shirt, but that he was described as a black man. Like, he's got to be up to no good - if he were white, it'd be ok; but in an auto parts store as a black guy, now that's suspicious behavior!
And I know this is going to come as a shocker, but a lot of people who frequent auto parts stores do so because they do their own auto repair work. And many of them do their own auto repair work because they can't afford to pay someone else to do it for them, and their own time is all they've got. Such people may well be unable to buy the proper Galco holster for the handgun they've got, because they can't afford to spring the eighty bucks for a new holster.
Here's another news item: the behavior the OP regarded as "lurking around" in the store may have simply been a gesture of humility or worse, a reflection of the gentleman's feeling that he's not good enough to stride up to the counter and demand service. Obviously, there were well-dressed, important white folks there in the store who deserved to be served first, simply because they're well-dressed white folks. I hope he was really just trying to find the correct oil filter, and not "lurking" at all. But I've known people well who behaved the way I described out of the feeling that they were not "good enough". And those white folks - especially the well-dressed, important, white folks; you never can tell just how they'll react to a person who's minding his own business and trying to find the correct oil filter without demanding help from the staff.
Kind of reminds me of being in the Fairfax GDC traffic court and hearing the Fx Co PD officers standing around and joking about guys they'd picked up along Richmond Highway (Rt 1, also known as Jeff Davis Hghwy) South of Alexandria for "DWB" (driving while black).
I apologize if my occasional sarcasm has offended anyone, but this one touched a nerve.
As a black man, I see where you're coming from, take out black guy and is it really offensive?
Also, black people do the same thing, if someone is of another ethnic background, we'll identify them by that.
It isn't racism, it isn't prejudice, it's just an observation.
As if you're never heard a black man say "this white dude just came in the store...." Or "who was that spanish guy you were hanging with?l or "i met this new asian girl"
If it isn't said in a derogatory fashion, mentioning race wouldn't be a problem.
Now if he said "some black guy in a wife beater with big greasy lips that look like he was just eating fried chicken and hands big enough to palm a watermelon" then I'd be offended.
Especially since I DESPISE watermelon and avoid fried chicken whenever possible lol
But seriously, if it was a white guy he described, would you be so offended?
I've seen some racist comments on gun forums, heard one guy say he saw some "coons" breaking into his car and hit one of them.
My point?
Pick your battles and make sure you're battling the right one...
*swyped from the evo so excuse any typos*
With all due respect, you appear to be an exception to the rule, at least in the public theater.It isn't racism, it isn't prejudice, it's just an observation.
With all due respect, you appear to be an exception to the rule, at least in the public theater.
Seems to me that unless the descriptive word advances the story somehow, it ought to be left out entirely.