Awkward Observations

Wow...So I'm from New York City and I will not deny that people can be racist there. On the train, the street or in the bars I've overheard my fair share of racist comments. Sometimes people will laugh along (if everyone in the crowd is of the same racial profile which is almost never), but most of the time the people who overheard the comment will look at each other and say "Did he really just say that?" I feel like I can say that if I were to appear at a bar or a public place looking like I was from the KKK or the Aryan Brotherhood people would not be well receptive. In fact I would probably have to leave after getting numerous what-the-fuck-are-you-doing-this-is-2008 glances.

So I've recently moved to Orange County California believing that the west coast was this open-minded, ahead of their time, laid back utopia of surfers and spiritual organic bike riders. But alas! I have discovered a huge population of Neo-Nazi's that I assumed died out after the 90's. All I know about this culture is what I have learned from World War II history class and movies such as "American History X" and "Romper Stomper", and these movies did not glorify Nazi's but taught Americans (who should have already known) that we are all equal when it comes down to the core of it. We all want freedom, a job, a home, money, and companionship. So there's no need to kill each other over the small differences.

Apparently it has taken longer than I thought for people to get out of this mentality. I guess 200 years is just not enough time. I see these Nazi's everywhere and it bothers me because almost everyone in Orange County is white so it's not like these people really know the people they have decided to hate. This fucked up sort of racism only exists in places where everyone is white because they can still deny the truth because they don't have to see it. Does anyone else find this ridiculous? It's 2008 and there are Nazi's living in California. This is a hard pill for me to swallow. In fact I don't want to take this pill I want to do something about this but I don't really know how to change someones opinion that has been shaped since birth. There's even Nazi fashion. I started to become paranoid that everyone was a Nazi so I spoke to my friend about the ways to tell if someone is a Nazi and not just a punk rocker. The easy give away is the shaved head and the swastika tattoos. If the person has hair and their tattoos are hidden they might wear bomber jackets with buttons all over them, but the buttons are all Nazi bands, not just regular punk bands and catchy phrases. They will also thread their boots with white or red laces, to represent blood on their shoes from stomping a minority's head in. Yes, I know this is revolting, but now that you know this you can avoid these people who are 200 years behind their time.