While on my way to college
I stopped in at Ernie’s Liquors
To wet my dry throat with
A liter of Coke
I got a chill that went
Down my spine like
Walking into unknown territory
As I entered the store
There was an old, Asian man
Behind the counter taking
Money from a customer
The old man asked the customer
“Can you stay for a minute or two until
He leaves?” The customer, looking at me,
Shrugged his shoulders and said, “Sure.”
Only heard bits and pieces of their
Conversation of whispers and sudden
Outbursts. “That’s a style of today everyone
Wears crew cuts.”
I looked down at my shoes, which weren’t
Combat boots
Not wearing a paratrooper jacket
Or a logo of a swastika
Except for wearing Levi jeans with a crew
cut
I must be a skinhead
Don’t hold to no anti-Semite attitudes or
belief
Of the Great White race
Even though I’m proud of my ancestry
I walked up to the counter
With my Coke in hand
Paid the frightened old man
And walked out of his store forever
I left him with no bruises
With his store intact
With his assumption
With his bitterness
With his prejudice. |