There have been two times in my life when I celebrated New Year’s Eve and had fun.
The first time I went to a party with my girlfriends from the university. it was a Greek event. I was the only white person at that party. I was a little freaked out at first, but by then I knew that the discomfort I felt was something my friends went through every day and I was not about to cause drama and spoil their fun after they so graciously invited me to be there with them.
I served as designated driver.
But, my goodness did I have a blast! No one even made a mean face at me. No one was rude or dismissive. There was at least 350 people at this party. And EVERY. SINGLE. HUMAN BEING. I met there went out of their way to welcome me.
Every single person. And I had nothing to drink all night, but I also had the best New Year’s Eve in my life up to that point…
The second New Year’s Eve that was amazing was in the Bahamas at Junkanoo. Again, very few white people, the police, all the officials, everyone running the show was a black person. No one abused anyone. No one was rude or mean. Everyone went out of their way to welcome me.
And I think it IS good for white people to see black people running the show. Doing all the authoritative things we do in this culture. Because what is most interesting about that is in the cultures I’ve seen there is collaboration, coordination, love and joy!
There were ZERO incidents at either event I described above. No fighting, no shouting, no shitty attitudes. Everyone was there to have fun and let loose. If you were there for the same reason, your skin color was completely moot.
And that’s why it bothers me when white people lecture black people about acceptance “no matter what color” blah blah blah… I’ve never met a black person who didn’t already know those things and act accordingly EVERY DAMN DAY.
Thanks for the comment.
