Us white people usually start our sentences by saying ‘I went to the grocery store to buy some mayonnaise and a DVD of seinfeld and guess what happened’.
I’m not sure that I’ve ever heard anyone other than Will Smith say it.
I never perceived it as a black people thing.More like an unsophisticated / not well educated thing. NOT to say that any of you who admit to saying it are either of those things. Just that around here, it seems to be something more likely to come out of the mouth of someone lower on the socio-economic scale.
Our local radio show used to have a segment called “See, what had happened was…” where people would call in and tell the station’s attorney about their pending legal case. ISTR that most callers were white guys.
I’ve heard “You see, what happened was…” Is that the same thing without the past perfect?
The one I knew was “See, Constable, it was like this…” spoken with a (mock) Cockney accent.