DEALING WITH A RACIST

Paul sends a racist packing

Here's a true story told in rhyme, how my friend Paul Styles (featured in a previous post) had the cahones to challenge a campground racist and how effective the challenge was. I was too chicken to do what needed to be done, preferring to be liked rather than standing up for principle. I'll remember this bit of cowardice the next time I hear racism. The least I can do is celebrate the courage of Paul.

THE PRICE OF PREJUDICE

We call him cowboy and now he lives
on the fringe of our campground south.
What put him out there on the edge
was his offensive mouth.

He’d say “nigger this and nigger that”
“rotten government bunch”
till we’d all cringe and passively
excuse ourselves for lunch.

And then one day Mr Paul drove in;
introduced himself all round
and eventually made his friendly way
to cowboy’s camping ground.

Predictably, the foul mouthed buckaroo
in just three minutes flat
began his prejudicial spew:
“nigger this and that.”

“How long have you been a racist?” asked Paul,
cutting to the heart of the matter.
The first to ever really challenge
cowboy”s offensive patter.

Stunned and ashamed, cowboy sputtered
like Adam without his leaf,
embarrassed to be caught red handed,
like some chicken thief.

Sensing that he was no longer welcome
in the company of the civilized
he slithered away to the social wasteland;
looks back with hollow eyes.

A single challenge and he was hurled
to the wastelands mud and damp.
soon the racist of our world
will have no place to camp.