Never told this story before, even to my significant other. Meteor Blades diary about violence has made me think about it and the need to confess is bugging me.
Have lurked here for almost two years and only plucked up the courage to join in a little while ago.
Not because I'm a wimp, just because you all are so much better informed and a lot more articulate than me. Also, I'm from middle England and am not sure if my opinions are that valid to anybody in the US.
I threatened a man with punching him in the face. Please don't ban me Meteor Blades, I love reading you all and American politics enthralls me.
I was taking an elderly aunt shopping in the local supermarket when something so unexpected and shocking to me happened, and me being fairly inarticulate, threatened to punch this guy because I was overtaken by a white hot blind rage.
Near the fruit section I saw an elderly black lady with two beautiful little black girls of about ten and seven, nearby was a big bloke wearing a stupid white cowboy hat and red shirt (middle England, I ask you, what a twonk), with his overlarge wife. Next thing there was obviously some interaction between them and I heard the word 'country' and the big bloke was sneering with contempt at the elderly lady.
I knew something horrible had been said by the look of pain and horror on the ladies face and the little girls looked completely bewildered.
I went over and asked the lady what the man had said, she told me he pushed in front of her to get to some fruit and just said "why don't you go back to you own country?". I ran to the nearest staff and asked them to evict the man but nobody seemed to give a damn. That's when I lost the plot.
I found him again and just fronted up to him, this is the part I am ashamed of. In the middle of the supermarket I just shouted at him "How DARE you speak to anyone like that you ignorant prat?, if I EVER see you talk to ayone like that again I'll punch you right in the face". Not big and certainly not clever.
The fact that I am 5 foot and a half an inch and only just came up to his chest meant that he probably wasn't too worried. He and his wife were stunned speechless though and did leave the shop. My aunt was none to keen to go shopping with me again either.
A little background, I am one of six siblings by the same father. My mother is Irish and I have a brother and two sisters who have a Burmese mother. I love them all.
I had never come across any obvious racism and really didn't think there was much of it in England. It never occurred to me that any of my family could ever suffer from it.
My brother is fairly dark skinned (Obama'ish), and it wasn't until he was around 30 years old that he told me he had been bullied and taunted at school because of his skin. It broke my heart.
I hate racism, but I hate violence as well. It's tedious and the world should be past it. We have much worse things to worry about.