My Two Cents........My Son Was Stopped At WalMart!

Last night my husband, TR, took a crew of our family with him on his nightly run to WalMart. This daily trip to "WallyWorld" has become part of the cultural fabric of our family. We always NEED something........Every night before he goes to bed, TR surveys the "supply" situation to see if there is something we need for the next day. Since many of the family's siblings are now disabled adults living at home, this is their time to hang out with Dad and "shop". Many of them have household chores throughout the week. I pay them a good wage and they spend their money in any way they wish. But.... disability or not, ALL the siblings have accompanied Dad to WalMart for over twenty years.....

One of my sons that still lives at home is Chris. He's an exceptional person that is a real homebody......He's finishing up his senior year in homeschool. Someday he may move out to live on his own, but for now he's content to keep Mom and Dad company!! Chris helps TR and I by taking care of the necessary weed whacking in our yard......I use the word, yard, loosely because our yard consists of three beautiful Texas acres of land. Chris went along with TR last night because not only does he love to hang with Dad, he wanted to buy a movie.

Now, Chris, has probably been to WalMart a thousand times over the past nineteen years. He also goes to Hastings bookstore with his sisters, Suzanne and Soo-Jin. Generally, he is out and about Waxahachie at least two to four times a week doing something or another with another sibling. I probably should mention here, so the story becomes clearer, Chris is African American; he's almost six feet tall and weighs about 230 pounds. Last night, Chris was stopped as he was leaving WalMart. Evidently, the alarm went off as several groups of people were exiting the store. The greeter was searching for the person that had set off the alarm. Chris and another African American man were called over to have their purchases checked. The employee did not stop any of the Caucasion people that were leaving.......just Chris and the other African American man. Now, I am not one to pull the race card in a situation, but it was so blatantly obvious that race clearly was a defining factor here. Interestingly, when my husband, TR, said "This is my son," she waved Chris on out the door...... Gee, this is disturbing......If EVERYONE had been white, would all the white people have been checked? Or were all the white people immune just because my son and the other African American were present??? I know situations like this, and situations many times worse than this happen every day. But, it is my belief that we must continue to draw attention to discrimination when and where ever it occurs so that hopefully, attitudes about culture and race will continue to improve. This is my two cents!!