By: Vincent L. Hall
Undoubtedly, it’s my upbringing, but putting on my best face and smile for the
average Joe or Josefa has always been a thing. In my Mama’s house, there was
one mainstay and mantra. “Son, if you didn’t sleep with them…Speak to them!
And so I have for all of my life.
Even into adulthood, that practice of presenting a congenial, warm, and
welcoming demeanor has stuck. “Speaking” is the anchoring of Southern
hospitality. Once my brother was called to the pastorate of a large church in
Jamaica, Queens, New York, he was forced to adjust Mama’s rule.
Upon my first visit to the Big Apple we walked through the boroughs of
Manhattan and Queens. I was as talkative as a Wal-Mart greeter. “Good
morning, how are you? Good afternoon. Isn’t the weather beautiful today?”
My younger brother, always respectful of my birthright and big brother status,
finally had enough. “Vincent, stop talking to everybody you see! This is not
Dallas; they don’t speak to each other like that here!” I was taken aback at first
but quickly realized that he was right. People were giving me some strange
looks and throwing off some bad vibes.
My gleeful greetings stopped until I got back to Texas. I enjoy meeting people
on the street with a reassuring word, a smile, or a deed that lets them know I
respect their personhood. If I didn’t sleep with you, I speak to you!
However, that has become increasingly difficult these days. Let me offer the
opening to a recent LA Times article.
“Jackie Ramirez has always been aware of the color of her skin. There was the
school crossing guard who nicknamed her Morenita, a little brown girl. The
uncle, who affectionately called her Paisita, was a country girl.
But never has skin color felt so top of mind than this month, as immigration
agents have descended on Southern California, conducting hundreds of
arrests. Videos and stories have circulated of people arrested at car washes.
The heightened fear that kicks in for those “driving while Black” is widely
known. But the recent immigration sweeps have underscored how much of an
issue skin color — and all the circumstances that attach to it — is for Latinos as
well.”
“You’re scared to be brown,” said Ramirez, a Los Angeles radio host for “The
Cruz Show” on Real 92.3. “You’re scared to look a certain way right now.””
It is one thing to disavow my mother’s rule, but can you imagine being Brown
in the midst of Trump’s Gestapo-styled immigration sweeps? Can you imagine
having to do a double take on everyone who looks like they work in an official
capacity?
As a county worker who wears the emblem on my chest, hat, and the front
doors of my truck, I have been saddened by the apparent fear and trepidation
my initial appearance is causing for a race of people I love.
My first school encounter with White kids was in the 10 th grade. But I grew up
in elementary school with Mack Salazar and Hilaria Rodriguez. To watch my
Brown family hurt is hurtful for me.
And these one-dimensional Black folks in “you get what you deserve” mode
need to refocus. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere! Today it’s
them, but Black folks are never off the radar. If you can’t laugh at racial
profiling or the horrors of driving while Black, watching “Brown people” facing
injustice can’t be amusing.
Profiling is wrong…Regardless!
A long-time Texas Metro News columnist, Dallas native Vincent L. Hall is an author, writer, award- winning writer, and a lifelong Drapetomaniac.
