I missed the first half of the Saudi Arabian Women forum last week. I was walking to the gas station on division to break a twenty so I could do my laundry, and there at the gas station I saw my friend Stephan for the first time since Winter. Stephan is a homeless homie of almost fifty, and he’s still out living on the streets of Spokane. I hadn’t seen him since before Winter last year, so naturally I asked him if he wanted a smoke and then hung out with him for while. Even in his his predicament Stephan is full of stories and wisdom, and one of the stories he told me this time has just as much to do with CRT and our literature as that lecture with the Saudi women.

He told me about one encounter he had with some white supremecist teenage boys. Stephan is African-American, Haitian and Jamaican to be specific, and doesn’t appear to be all that physically powerful. He’s getting older, and how many teenagers pick fights with 49 year-olds? Well this group did. He says he was walking down Division at night when a group of teenage guys pulled over their truck, got out, and headed towards Stephan shouting about how racist they were and how they didn’t like “niggers out on the streets”. Stephan isn’t one for swearing, so he just says,” You all don’t need to be messing with me.” The boys didn’t heed his warning and one of the took a swing at Stephan’s head. Stephan’s quick even in his old age, so he was able to dodge the hit and trip his attacker. Then he dropped his pack right in the street and said something along the lines of,” Bring it”. The guy he had just laid out on the street got up and ran back to the others, who all retreated back to their truck. So 49 year-old Stephan scared those teenagers off singlehandedly. I am still appalled that there are people out there who would want to rough up such a cool guy as Stephan, and with the terrible reasoning that he’s black. CRT tenet no. 1: “Racism is ordinary” is surprising to me, and something that I don’t usually consider. Life is shielded in the pine cone curtain.