So last night was the huge wind/snow storm, right? I get off work at 7am and have to walk home. None of the roads are plowed, massive drifting, super cold.. like 20 below in the wind.. that I have to walk into. Even though only my eyes are uncovered walking, it was cold as shit. I promise this has a point.. this is a story, not a blog.

So I'm walking down the two roads I have to take home, using the car tire tracks as a "paved" way... the snow is about knee high in most places, calf deep in others. So I get to the spot for my house and I just know I'm going to have to walk through knee deep snow the rest of the way. But lo and behold there are foot prints leading from some tire tracks to my neighbors house, more specifically the side between his and our house. So I attribute that to him not having his front key and going in through his back door. The foot prints have some snow in them again and are slightly drifted over, but not much. So I estimate he must of got home about 5am or so. So I use his footprints to get to my house, but I have to trudge through snow the rest of the way.. le sigh.

So the rest of my morning goes normal. I get ready to go to bed at 11am. I use the bathroom, walk down to my room when I look out the window and see... white spray paint on the bricks of my neighbors house facing me. This graffi declares "NIGGER COONS MUST HANG" and 'KKK" and "NIGGER LOVER" as well as swaztikas on the windows. Obviously you can guess my neighbor is Afro-Amer, and he is one cool guy, at least when I've hung out with him in the warmer days outside. I think the NL one was directed as his girl, who is, as you can guess, white. So I get all my shit back on, go over to their place and let them know, because its on the side of the house I never see them use unless its at night and he forgets his key.

I see it in the shows, movies, hear about it... but living in a place like Cedar Rapids, even when you hear about theft.. even when my own car was broken into and everything stolen out of it, even when my best friend was murdered last year by being blugeoned to death by a bar stool... nothing really prepares a "small midwest city" guy like me by seeing shit 30 years from the past plastered all over a neighbors house. Does anyone still say coon and mean it? Really? Skinheads are still calling them coons? It just.. baffles me. I'm not racist, even growing up here. I understand its out there, I know people who are heavily racist. But with the times evolving, I thought maybe hate would too. But I guess hate is one of those primal things that will forever be stuck in the stone ages of calling people derogatory terms and basing on the color of skin.

I mean, really, if they had spraypainted shit like "TALKS ON CELL PHONE WHILE DRIVING!" "PEOPLE WHO LITTER SHOULD HANG" or "TALKING DURING A MOVIE GUY LOVER"... then I wouldn't have a problem with it. Those are reasons to "hate" someone. But skin color? Jesus... I guess there's just some things the world will never get rid of.