Is Classism the New Racism

Are those with money treated differently then those who don’t? I thought about this question after a friend of mine and I had a discussion about racism. As we all know, I live in the sticks of Arkansas. I am the only black man that I know of in a 30-mile radius, possibly more.

My wife has found it strange that strangers in our community speak to me. I will be in Wal-Mart, or the gun shop and men you wouldn’t expect to speak to me will strike up a conversation and want to talk for hours. However, I wonder if they were to see me drive up in an old Chevy with grease and mud all over myself, would it be the same? Would I be just some nigger? Why is it that I am treated differently then even the white man who looks the part I just described?

Just the other afternoon I stopped off to get a drink at the last stop out of town before returning home. A young man in an old Toyota truck was trying to get gas and his card would not work. He came inside, to speak to the clerk, and she wanted to push him aside to assist me first. The card was a bank gift card, and you could tell this young man did not have much, if anything. I kindly let the young man go before myself, and the attitude he received shocked me. The woman was short, and told him that the reason the card advised him to "see attendant" was because he either did not have enough funds, or no funds on his card. How embarrassed must he have felt?

When it was my turn to check out, I thought I would do a little test. I knew that the card machine took its sweet time to print the receipt, so I yelled out "DECLINED" and her answer was "Yeah right." Why is it, that he possibly had no money, and I did? Was it because I was in a nice new clean shinny car, and he was not? The young man did indeed have the funds on his card by the way. He had just gotten paid, and put the money on the card so that he would stay out of trouble with his bank account. I took the card inside and asked the attendant if I could pay for his gas with one of my cards. She agreed, and ran the card in the amount the young man needed, and it worked.

Are we putting too much emphasis on appearances? Even I in this story thought that the man didn’t have much of anything. How do I know that the young man didn’t make more then I? My mother-in-law pays cash for her cars and anything else she needs. This is due mostly to her age; she’s in her late seventies. However, if you were to see her in the streets you would think that she had nothing. She and my father-in-law wear the same clothes almost everyday. They are stained due to dropping food all over themselves, or working on the farm. However, what most people have no clue of, is that they are worth millions. This is why I say that no man is better then any other. I have even been quoted as saying, "Not even the Queen herself." Most would disagree with that statement. Why is she better? Because she was born to a life of luxury? Food for thought.