This morning, as I was waiting for class to start, this white guy in my class starts talking to me about a disruptive fellow that sits near him that happens to be black. Now, I haven’t really noticed a problem up to this point but I do sit on the other side of the room. What really struck me is when he said something to the extent of: “Like, what’s this guy’s deal, right? I almost wanna play the race card. I mean, I don’t want to but I dunno.”

What the hell does that even mean and why does this guy I’ve never talked to feel so comfortable using this racist speech with me? Are black people naturally more disruptive than white people or something? I was a bit shocked, flabbergasted even. A moment later he was mentioning how he’s an honor student.

I can only imagine that he had no idea how racist he sounded or realized it immediately after and didn’t even want to bring it up again even just to correct himself. In any case, it’s stored for posterity on my recorder now, probably as one of those moments when someone simply does not listen to themselves.