I answered the door-bell this afternoon to find our friendly neighbor (let me call him X - not his real initial), who has a habit of coming over without calling. When I opened the door, I found out that he needed change for a $20 bill. These days, I hardly use cash, so I was not sure if I would be able to satisfy his request. I went in and got my wallet, and found that I did have a reasonable variety of bills of different denominations.
I gave him 4 fives - he hesitated a bit; perhaps, because he was expecting a different set of bills. Maybe he wanted dollar bills or 2 tens or some other combination. His hesitation was my temptation to quip, so here is how it went:
A(seem): So X, you don't like Honest Abe, looks like! (referring to Abraham Lincoln's face on the $5 bill)
X: Actually, I don't! It was a good thing he freed the slaves, but he stopped short of sending them back to their home country.
A: WHAT? The slaves never came over on their own. They were herded up like animals and brought over, and then bred and traded. This is their country, much that this is my country! Please don't send me back to my home country!
X: You're right. Never thought of that. But you came over legally! And, you're a good neighbor. I'd never send you back.
A: The slaves didn't have a choice. They were captured and caged and shipped over. It is the slave-owners and slave-traders who needed to be prosecuted, not the slaves. Besides, the people who brought them over were long dead and gone, as the slavery practice went on for several generations. So, who could you prosecute? Definitely, not the slaves!
X: Oh, don't get me wrong. I had so many African American colleagues from the time I worked at Corporation ABC (not the real name). By the way, I do dislike Biden's immigration policy!
A: I do agree with you on that!
I am not sure if the above chat left X with a slightly different perspective. If it did, it was my good deed for the day to leave the world in a slightly less biased/racist state.
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