This one time at a house party...

Banned Histories of Race in America

Years and years ago I got invited to perform at a house party. It was a really nice house party. It had had one of those buffet-style spreads just expensive enough that even recognizing the food was a class identifier. I remember looking at the food trying to figure out what I could eat, which I was doing very carefully because sometimes people can really freak out when they discover you’re a vegetarian. I was already the only Black person there. I didn’t want to risk any more weird weaponized identity attacks than I had to.

But there I was, looking at the food just as subtly as I could when I noticed a man staring at me from across the room. I glanced over. His stare was aggressive enough that the disarming tactics began automatically.

Nod.

Smile.

Didn’t matter.

“You a vegetarian?” he asked, accusatorily.

Here we go.