racism is alive and well....

had a great time this week with my friend george. he i knew (and briefly dated) back in 1992 in kansas city. hadn't really seen him since then. he's now in houston with a dental practice. anyhoo.... he and i had a few interesting experiences this week while hanging in the city. (regarding the following, i must note that george is african-american.)

while around town, he got aggressively and continually solicited for drugs, sometimes even while i was standing there right next to him. while at the wharf, he was expressly singled out, again while i was standing right next to him, by a guy trying to sell copied cd's and dvd's. these guys didn't even try to sell me. it was all for/about him, sometimes not even an acknowledgement that i was standing there too.

now, not that i want to buy knock-off technologies or drugs or befriend the homeless (who oftentimes saw him as their friend), but it was quite apparent to both him and i that he was seen as a 'target' of some sort for these business endeavors. and so what does that say about who the underground market, especially the drug market, is catering to? and what does that say about how blind we white people can be to what's right in front of us everyday?