Racism hits home - literally!

by: Fritz

Sat Oct 25, 2008 at 13:37:51 PM EDT

We've had a lot of debate on this blog about the possible impact of the racism that John McCain and Sarah Palin has allowed to be introduced into their campaign. We've chronicled countless racist comments and images. We've viewed videos of racists making themselves seen and heard at McCain/Palin rallies.

However, until yesterday it hadn't yet touched me personally. That changed when my boyfriend admitted that he was injured breaking up a fight that took place in his home a few days ago.

He's been having a lot of work done on his house and he hired several gay contractors to do the work. He thought that it would be a good idea to keep the money he's putting out in the LGBT community. So, he hired a gay plumber, a gay electrician, and a gay stone mason to do several large projects. They've all been at the house for weeks.

One of the things that I really didn't approve of was that my boyfriend began to socialize with these men and their workers. He's been buying them beer and unwinding with them after coming home from work. On several occassions, I've gone over to his house to find the guys still there at 7:00 PM or later, drinking and shooting the breeze.

Apparently on Wednesday, the conversation turned to politics. I had been over to the house earlier to walk the dog and I was wearing my new Obama t-shirt. Mike the electrician is African-American. Tony the plumber is white. According to my boyfriend, Mike mentioned that I had been over earlier and he liked the shirt I was wearing. Then Tony began repeating some of the racist propaganda we've all been fuming over for the past few months.

When Mike objected to what Tony was saying, things got heated and then turned physical. The two men began fighting right on the terrace! Mike hit Tony in the mouth and the men began pounding each other.

My boyfriend tried to intervene and that's when he was knocked down and kicked in the leg. He has a cut on his hand and a huge bruise on his upper thigh.

These guys are 20 years younger than my boyfriend and in pretty good shape. I can't even begin to describe how upset I was to find out that they had injured him.

What is even worse is that my boyfriend allowed them to return to work! I would have fired them both and called the police.

My boyfriend is a clinical psychologist and at times I think he tends to be too intellectual. He thinks that every problem can be solved by his therapeutic methods. This drives me up the wall at times.

He told me that he's now trying to work with these men to resolve their problems. Personally, I want both of them to just go away. Tony is an idiot for having such racist views. But, both men turned to violence and hurt my boyfriend.

I think this sad event raises a broader issue, though. It has been a very long time since I've heard about two grown men fighting over a racial issue. And, no one I know has ever been physically injured like this.

We've all asked ourselves what was going to happen if racial tensions continue to grow. I think what happened to my boyfriend answers that question. When "Joe the Gay Plumber" and "Joe the Gay Electrician" get into a fist fight over something that has been said about Obama, that seems like a pretty strong indication that something is very wrong in America.