I wouldn’t consider myself a very political person. As a matter of fact, if I can avoid talking about politics, I do. The person that I would consider my best friend is very political. She is very interested in current affairs and world politics. Half of the places that send her in frenzy with their political views and practices, I didn’t even know exist. I always admired her knowledge and passion as she would debate with our other co-workers on a weekly basis; that is, until we had our own heated discussion.
I don’t know what events transpired that lead up to the discussion. It was just a normal Friday, and as always we were in the copy room making plans for lunch around 9:30 that morning. Fridays are usually laid-back for us since Thursdays are our stressful and eventful days. Anxiously awaiting the start of the weekend, we socialize about family, weekend plans and possible romantic dates throughout the entire day. But, this Friday was different; this Friday would change our friendship forever.
Julie was her normal self; a little fired up over the response to a mass email that she sent all of the people in her personal distribution list. The email praised the recent comments made by John Howard, Prime Minister of Australia, that pretty much told everyone living Australia if you didn’t want to be Australian and respect their culture then they should leave. Julie agreed with the sentiment, but that wasn’t the problem. The problem came when someone replied and objected to the email and stated a very long and involved reason why.
As usual, Julie passionately went over her views about politics and religion. This is behavior that I am used to and love about her. On most things, we share the same views on both topics. We are both Christians and have a great love for God, so talking religion is what bonded us in the first place. Things get complicated with politics. Julie is a conservative and is mostly republican. I am riding the fence; I am neither republican nor democratic. I am in the middle of being conservative and a liberal; not fully supporting or disagreeing with either side. I agree with both sides on certain topics. You can see why this would get complicated.
At a certain point during Julie’s rant about the liberals of the world, I was pulled into the conversation. Although, I don’t fully disagree with her viewpoints, I just don’t think it is as black and white as Julie makes it out to be. After a while John Howard and his comments were forgotten and the history of the United States came into play. This is the point where our friendship was tested.
Like I said, I don’t remember what points we were arguing or how we actually got to this point, but Julie made several comments that were kind of racist. If I didn’t explain it before, I am African-American and Julie is White. This has never been a problem before; the different colors of our skin were as minimal as the color of the clothes we were wearing. Our different races very much came into play during this conversation that was quickly becoming heated.
The comment made by Julie was �€ŔI don’t see anything wrong with what our forefathers did because we wouldn’t have the country we have today.�€� This was in reply to stealing land from Native Americans and Mexicans, and slavery. I don’t know if she meant it the way that it sounded, but all I heard was that my best friend supported slavery because she felt it was for the good of the country. Of course, you can understand why this debate was steadily becoming heated.
I love Julie like a sister and have even invited her to family functions. My brother hugs her and calls her his sister every time he sees her. She came into my life during a vulnerable time and helped me get over so many hurdles by encouraging me with her faith in God. I have never meet a more supportive and generous person in my life. It broke my heart to think that she was judging me by the color of my skin behind my back.
This is a prime example of why I don’t discuss politics with friends and co-workers. People’s hidden demons tend to come out when discussing such a controversial topic. I still talk to Julie and people can even consider us friends. She is no longer my sister; that bond was broken with words and a disagreement of views.
