My Life in Republicanville 5: "I love you, N****r"

Yesterday, in my favorite bar in Republicanville, my favorite bartender sat and talked with me for a few minutes.  The bartender is racially ambiguous, but he appears biracial white/black.  After a few minutes, he greeted a middle aged white man who is one of the regulars.  At the end of their conversation, the white man gives the bartender a very tight hug and says, "I love you, nigger."

I didn't get a chance to ask the bartender about it.  In the moment, it appeared to be a normal experience between the two of them.  I can't tell if the bartender is just playing it off for social reasons and because it's his place of business.  Details to come...

Needless to say, I am horrified.

My Life in Republicanville 4: I Need a New Bar

I have a lot of work to do today, so I'll keep this brief.

Friday night, after work, I stopped by my favorite bar in Republicanville to watch some playoff baseball.  Not long after I bellied up to the bar, a couple of post-college, late 20s white men walk in and sit next to me.  As he pulls out his chair, one man says, "Don't worry.  I'm not racist."  I gave a side eye  look and said, "That's good to know."  He then asked if I was "that guy who works in the library."  When I said no, he asked "are you sure?" and reached for his phone (to pull up the guy's picture on the university website--I think).  His friend said, "So all black guys look alike?"  I gave the friend a knowing nod, which prompted the first guy to insist that I really do look just like the library guy.  When he pulled up the library guy's picture, he looked nothing like me.  Our complexions are similar, but we are at least 50 pounds apart and our facial features are not similar.  I frowned and said, "Well, that didn't take long."

The two guys followed with a round of racist comments about my blackness, ending when one of them "won" 7-2.

When I returned to the bar yesterday, they were surprised I sat far away from them.  They yelled across the bar, "Is it because we're white? ... Do you not want to sit with us because we're racist?"

Just another day in Republicanville.  (In related news, I think I'm gonna have to get cable just to avoid having to be in racist surroundings anytime I want to see a game.  You can chalk that $60/month up as just one of "the many costs of racism.")