We’ve got some pretty new neighbors, they seem like nice people, I get along with them. I’ve even spend hours trying to teach the wife to crochet, which is difficult since she speaks very litttle english. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that my new neighbors don’t stick out around here a little bit, they are the only African-Americans in the area.
Of course some of the neighbors do not like it, I really don’t care. I’d rather have more people like my new neighbors then the white trash assholes across the street with garbage all over their yard and their fucking Harley Davidson.
This morning I drove the kids to the bus stop. We have a big sun glare on the road and it was kind of hard to see. When I got back, my neighbor’s husband was in the road waving to me to stop, I stopped. He said to me “Why didn’t you wave back at me ? Am I too Black for you ?” I was stunned I told him that I simply didn’t see him waving this morning and I wasn’t trying to be rude. He said “Oh, I didn’t think a white girl like you wanted to be seen waving to me.”
Where in the hell is this coming from and how am I supposed to react ? I’m kind of pissed off. I have never cared what color anyone is. I like you or don’t like you based on a lot of other things, not the color of your skin. I’ve never been rude to the new neighbors and, yes, I have treated them differently then the other neighbors, I’ve been nicer to them because they are nicer people and I like them more. I consider the wife to be a friend, not just a neighbor. It has nothing to do with skin color.
Sounds like he needs a nice, simple, “Fuck you!” Overly sensitive pricks like that piss me off. He’s projecting whatever paranoid insecurities he has about his skin color on you and likely every other person who he has contact with.
You didn’t do anything wrong dragon. It may be that the husband has been getting a rude treatment from some of the other neighbors and wrongly took it out on you. I’d say try to let it pass and stay in communication with them. The wife will probably set him straight. Wives usually do.
I’m sorry, but I have more pity on him than I do on you. Obviously he has been conveniently ignored before, and you were in the unfortunate position of receiving the backlash.
My advice is to just let it slide this time and continue to be nice to them. It’s not easy being the “only one” on the block and they will need friends.
Give the guy a break. He’s entitled to one mistake. He may have legitimately misunderstood what happened and gotten his feelings hurt. For people to immediately start jumping all over the guy and start calling him a prick and an asshole is just as premature and irrational as what he did. My guess is that once he really understands what happened he’ll apologize. Give him some time and see if he’s really this paranoid or if it was a one-time incident. If he starts to show a pattern of this kind of behavior, THEN call him an asshole.
He may be a jerk, but I have never met a black person who has not been the target of racial prejudice. After a while, the target often begins to get a chip on her or his shoulder and it is understandable though not wise.
He sounds like he might have some prejudice against “white girls.” Just write it off and educate, educate, educate!
dragongirl acted like a friend to her new neighbors, and he turned around and at the first perceived snub made a hurtful comment to her and she should just write it off because maybe someone hurt him in the past?
He owes her an apology. After his first “maybe I’m too black for you,” comment and her obvious shock, he should’ve stopped and apologized. But no, he had to add “Oh, I didn’t think a white girl like you wanted to be seen waving to me,” and add insult to injury. It doesn’t matter what color his skin is. He was still a jerk.
Well, considering that she is friendly with the family, I would say the guy acted like a jerk-perhaps he is something of a racist himself (assuming all white people are racist).
The husband has been in the U.S. his whole life, the wife has been here for 15 years.
I realize that he may have been harrased in the past, but I have not the the one doing it. I’m having a hard time understanding that attitude directed towards me.
I certainly don’t intend to bring it up to him or his wife, but my feelings are kind of hurt about the whole thing. I never tried to insult him and I have been a good neighbor.
For all of you who say he’s overly sensitive, one question. Are you a black person that lives in a white neigborhood? If you aren’t how can you even begin to imagine whether or not he’s overly sensitive. Those neighbors across the street with the harleys, odds are they could be sporting a confederate flag decal on the bikes, some swastikas, who knows. Perhaps that morning 10 white people in the neighborhood ignored him, which isn’t far fetched from my experience. In a perfect world, his behavior would seem wierd, but this is America and bigotry still exists. What’s missing from dragongirl’s story is how he said what he said. I’d be interested in hearing about that.
He said it in a very nasty way, like he was accusing me of doing it intentionally. I don’t doubt that he’s probably heard it from some folks around here, but my family and I have never treated them badly.
Well, he could merely have said, (if he suspected she was being a racist), “Hey-didn’t you see me wave to you?” That’s ALL he had to do! And then hear the explanation.
It seems like he wanted to think it was racism. That’s sad.