“I know you’ll probably do something interesting with that photo. But this is private property.”
“Oh, I’m not going to do anything. I’m just practicing.”
[Now, why couldn’t I have been honest about my blog? My only excuse is shyness — and my reluctance to act like I was doing anything “big.” Afterall, this blog IS practice.]
“Yea, hon. I’ve heard it all before.”
UGH — the bar owner / manager had me pegged from the moment he pulled open that mirrored door and asked me what I was doing.
“But why are you taking pictures of this sign?”
“Well…it says ‘no colors’ and I was wondering what that meant.”
At least that comment of mine was totally honest. The phrase definitely caught my attention. I assumed it meant red and blue — gang colors. The bar would be trying to avoid fights by banning the display of colors. Then I — ignorantly — assumed it was a black bar, as most bars in the area have a heavy orientation toward one ethnic group or another. The owner / manager quickly dispelled that thought. He volunteered, “We don’t allow n——.” The “No color’s” refers to biker colors, he explained. (I had had no idea bikers had colors. My ignorance again.) “All bars have that sign,” he said. He repeated his abhorrent proclamation of discrimination — and I stared at him in shock wondering why he was sharing that information. I certainly wasn’t planning to visit. Or tell him that he had spelled colors wrong on his sign. Or share that he had offended me to the bone.
I’m going to come up with a stock answer to describe why I take pictures. So when asked, I won’t catch myself making excuses. And when someone directs offensive language to me, I’m going to mimic an associate’s comment to me: “Wow, nice language.” I have to plan because I’m not good on the fly. Obviously.
