Despite my pacifist Mennonite heritage, I have officially become a fighter! After posting a nicey-nice story (obviously not the one about peeing), I thought I would write about a scenario in which I found myself scared.
As I have previously posted, some of the ladies & I got a little bit silly at a Bob Marley tribute. Initially I was a bit apprehensive to go because I was worried that the Rastas would get upset that this whitey (whose ancestors-arguably- had contributed to the whole Ras tafari movement) would dare attend such a gathering. Realistically, I’m the bad guy, right? It was people of my skin colour that made life a living hell for millions of people who did not have the same skin tones. But I swallowed my apprehension & hopped on the band wagon (especially because there is a lot of One Love talk from good ol’ Bobby).
As expected, as the night wore on, people became belligerent on drugs & alcohol. That was about the time I was putting on the pressure to leave the park. So the line up of beautiful (if tipsy) women started making our way to the entrance to leave the celebrations. Unfortunately, the entrance was blocked & security told us the only way to exit the park was through a little muddy lane on the other side of the park. (This exit doubled as an illegal entry…& a man literally had to catapult me & the girls over the chain link fence that screamed illegal entrance).
En route to the shady exit I felt someone roughly grab my forearm. I turned around with the expectation that it would be someone I knew, grasping me tightly for a joke. I came face-to-face with an angry dark face. That night, I wasn’t having it. “What the bleep is your problem”, I screamed at him to be heard over the music. I couldn’t make out what he was saying but it was something about whites leaving the black continent bladdy-blah. I took another look at his face & grabbed his forearm (with my free hand) with all of my might & said “This is my bleeping problem”. With no facial expression whatsoever, he dropped my arm & we proceeded to the ‘exit’. I was upset, and a bit shaky, but upon reflection, it feels great to know that a little ‘fight back’ in the potential face of violence can deter an aggressor.
I’ve never done anything like that in my life. Cue Beyonce, I’m out
1 comment:
YAY! Glad to hear you are putting up a fight sis. I like to fantasise that I can go around defending myself, but it is nice to hear you put someone in their place. Kinda reminds me of when we got robbed in Spain, you've come a long way baby! I hope I have too, kinda stupid chasing men into dark alleys.....ahhh, youth.
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