Cinco de Mayo
So, over the years I have taken some English classes, and I would like to consider myself a decent speller. But today, I came to find out that Cinco de Mayo is actually spelled: D-I-S-C-R-I-M-I-N-A-T-I-O-N. The story goes as follows:
I was coming home from picking up my sister’s mail and dropping off some old folding chairs, when I saw a line of cars, many of which were police. This is where they chose to place a sobriety check point. When I came up to the main officer after driving past others, I was asked to pull to the side instead of continuing on. Okay, fine, I’ve been "randomly" selected before, besides, I had nothing to hide. I was, however, a little confused. I thought that Cinco de Mayo, for many, is one of the biggest drinking days of the year. That being said, why was I not given a breathalyzer or motor/verbal skills test, and instead asked to get out of my truck for a "person’s and vehicular search." (The only one during the 30 minute process.)
Maybe it has something to do with the Dead and Phish stickers or the one reading "Peace Monger." Maybe it’s the beard that makes me look shifty or the peace sign that dangles from my neck. If I didn’t do anything wrong and had nothing to hide, then why does this upset me even as I’m writing this? Because it was a singled out, uncalled for, act of prejudice and discrimination. They were looking for drunks and they thought they found a drug dealer.
Long story short:
1. I’m not a dug dealer.
2. To this day I will respect police officer’s because I would never want their job.
3. Let it be known that by respect I mean only if it’s offered to me first.
4. Let us come together in the world and treat everybody the same way, be it good or bad.
5. Let us strive to erase prejudice, discrimination, racism, sexism and many other ism’s from the English language.
6. Happy Cinco de Mayo everybody, and remember, don’t drink and drive.
--Benjamin D. Bain
I was coming home from picking up my sister’s mail and dropping off some old folding chairs, when I saw a line of cars, many of which were police. This is where they chose to place a sobriety check point. When I came up to the main officer after driving past others, I was asked to pull to the side instead of continuing on. Okay, fine, I’ve been "randomly" selected before, besides, I had nothing to hide. I was, however, a little confused. I thought that Cinco de Mayo, for many, is one of the biggest drinking days of the year. That being said, why was I not given a breathalyzer or motor/verbal skills test, and instead asked to get out of my truck for a "person’s and vehicular search." (The only one during the 30 minute process.)
Maybe it has something to do with the Dead and Phish stickers or the one reading "Peace Monger." Maybe it’s the beard that makes me look shifty or the peace sign that dangles from my neck. If I didn’t do anything wrong and had nothing to hide, then why does this upset me even as I’m writing this? Because it was a singled out, uncalled for, act of prejudice and discrimination. They were looking for drunks and they thought they found a drug dealer.
Long story short:
1. I’m not a dug dealer.
2. To this day I will respect police officer’s because I would never want their job.
3. Let it be known that by respect I mean only if it’s offered to me first.
4. Let us come together in the world and treat everybody the same way, be it good or bad.
5. Let us strive to erase prejudice, discrimination, racism, sexism and many other ism’s from the English language.
6. Happy Cinco de Mayo everybody, and remember, don’t drink and drive.
--Benjamin D. Bain
posted by Joshua Aaron Weinstein at 11:22 AM
1 Comments:
Benjamin I agree with you on racism and blind prejudice, but not discrimination. We are all discriminating, it is our right. I discriminate everytime I buy a movie, I do NOT watch horror pictures of porno flicks. I discriminate everytime I eat, I won't eat parsnips, and I discriminate everytime I refuse to let the mean kids come over to play with my son. People get the word discrimination confused with prejudice and racism. But the act of discrimination is one of our freedoms and I do not have to eat things I don't like, watch things that make me sad or play with mean people if I don't want to.
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home