Apparently it's rude to call people "white"

So, one of the things I missed out on was growing up in the 60s and 70s. Sure, I know what you're thinking: "What? You're upset because you missed out on the beatings and threats???" I know, right. I mean who wouldn't be upset about that. But I also missed out on the free love and um, recreational experiences. But most of all, I missed out on calling The Man "Whitey". Sure, I could do it now, but these days it just doesn't mean the same. I mean, heck, some of my best friends are NAMED Whitey for pete's sake. It just doesn't have the same ring to it. I don't think many people would bat an eye these days if you referred to a random caucasion individual as "whitey"

But little did I know that is is unPC to call some one "white". Well, at least that's the prevailing thought amongst Philadelphia youth. Even the failry intelligent ones. I've heard stories of the whole white disrespect thing, but only recently got to see it in action. It's sort of like the giant squid. Sure, you and your buddies sit around and tell stories about it, but until you land one yourself, it's just a bunch of hooey. Yeah, I said it: hooey.

As we're sitting for our last dinner with the kids on the Great HBCU Tour of '07 everyone was passing around digital cameras and sharing all the fond memories that were captured throughout the week. If only Kodak could come up with a way to capture staying up till 2 AM to ensure that all the kiddies remianed celibate. But I'm pretty sure Hallmark has a card for that, so it's all good. But I digress. A group of young men were going through my pics, nee, flicks (or flickety-flicks, but only if you're cool like that) and marveling at my picture taking skillz. They soon finished with the tour pics and went through the Chrismas pictures, asking me 101 questions about my family along the way. Then they got to a few pictures and before asking any questions there was a brief huddle. This sort of worried me. Usually when young adults huddle like that it means only one of two things. I have forgotten what those two things are, but trust me, they ain't good.

After their mini conference, one of the guys (who I can only assume had won some kind of election during the huddle and was not representing the group) asked me, "Mr. F, who's the light skinned lady in the pictures?" I thought for a few seconds, and since I don't know any "light skinned ladies" told them that my sisters aren't light skinned and I had no idea about who they were talking about.

There was another mini conference and Fearless leader came back to me. "We mean, who's the really light skinned lady in the picture?" Now I'm starting to think that I'm the crazy one. I mean, I would remember taking pictures of my really light skinned lady friend right? I mean, I've been tired lately, but I usually do a good job remember the people in my life. Especially if I'm taking picture of them. One of the kids must have seen my quickly increasing fears that I had developed early onset Alzhiemer's. This student of above average intelligence finally bursts out, "Mr. F, we not trying to be rude, but who's the... white girl?"

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"See we knew you were gonna get mad if we called her white," someone said to me. I started to laugh and the look of coyness on the students' faces was quickly replaced by confusion.

"Guys, she IS white. What's the big deal?" I asked.

"See, I told y'all," someone said. "I was gonna ask you who the white girl was but everyone else said that would be rude. So we just called her light skinned."

"Light skinned, though?" I asked, some what amused for what passed for light skinned these days and thinking that it would have been REALLY hard to pass way back in the day if those were the standards.

"Well, technically, I guess she's really, really, really, really light skinned." And then, dinner was served.