re: For The First Time in My Life Tonight *Update on pg. 10*

I voluntarily engaged in a verbal confrontation which led to declarations of my white privilege being shoved in my face.

I want to apologize for the lengthiness of the post, and possibly its irrelevance to the PoliBoard (kind of a dear diary instance I know), but I believe this to be an outlet where issues like what I endured need to be shared and discussed by everyone no matter your race, religious beliefs, gender, sexual orientation, etc. because it demonstrates the "divide" in this country perpetuated by identity politics. We're all Americans.

What Led to This Encounter?
While playing pick up basketball at LA Fitness tonight, there was this 30 year old black male on the court who I had played with previously and did not get along with. He began heckling his own teammates, including myself, about lack of effort on defense as well as getting into arguments with the other team every possession down the court. We got through two games before we called it quits, but he kept arguing with the other team afterwards to the point where he got in one's face making physical threats and telling them to keep pushing him and see how "real" he is.

Who Provoked Who?
Admittedly, I began the confrontation by interjecting while he was mouthing off and being an arse to a different kid. It got to the point where he stood over the kid who was sitting against the wall when I got involved. I interrupted his rant to tell him to quit arguing over some dumb pick up game at LA Fitness. His reaction was to approach me as I was sitting against the same wall, and insult me to the likes of "bitch", "dumbass", "white boy", etc.

What Happened Next?
I let him have it. Started calling him out for getting in people's faces, behaving like a child, physically and verbally threatening people, being a bigot and a douche. All of which he denied and continued insulting me. This is where things got sticky. I remained seated, so he walked over to me. stood directly in front of me, and began screaming in my face about how "all white people think they have the privilege to join in on 'our' conversations" and that I was "too caught up in the PC bullshite".(wtf?) He then proceedes to declare in front of the people still on the court how he was educated, how he knows what white people are like after having gone to a school that was 80% white, and that white people like me don't know how to be wrong because we all have that privilege. This caught me off guard because never has anyone ever used this form of argument against me. I repeatedly told him that he doesn't know anything about me, that these accusations hold no truth whatsoever, and for him to bring that up without knowing me or him having any proof to support his claim is as ignorant as it gets. Infuriated by my rebuttals, he then did something so bizarre I was caught completely off guard. He had somehow got it in his head that I wanted to call him the n-word I guess, and started trying to bait me into saying something negative about black people along the lines of, "Go on, I know you want to say it. I wish you'd say it. Just say it I know you're thinking it." (What in the actual frick?) At that point I got up to leave and told him to grow the frick up and to stop accusing me of being a racist because there was nothing to support such a claim but your own imagination and prejudice. Walked my way towards the door and past him while he called me a "bitch" and "pussy" and to keep lifting weights...you know cause we're at a gym and all. In the parking lot one of the kids from the other team who he'd been harassing/threatening earlier came up to me and asked if I was alright and wanted to let me know that if he had tried something that he and his friends (all of whom are black) would have my back. I said thanks, and that it wasn't alright for that guy to be making threats and accusations like that, but I appreciate it and would do the same if he tried to fight one of you. Glad to know they saw me for who I am, and not just lump me into some stereotype fueled by prejudice like that guy had.

What Did I Learn?
People like that are not worth the time or trouble. He's obviously infected by a sick prejudicial view of the world, so why bother trying to explain yourself to someone who immediately resorts to race as a scapegoat for their problems. Also, now that I have experienced this kind of bigotry firsthand, I can recall upon it in the future for when similar instances arise and combat it with better understanding and wisdom.