"Ah damn" thought the middle aged white guy as he looked around the train, "I'm going to have to sit next to that black guy"

It was the only seat left and the thought of standing for the next hour made sitting next to a black man bearable.

The white guy sat down. "Just be cool" he thought to himself.

He noticed the black guy was listening to an iPod, "Hey what you listening to there, some Jay-Z?"

The black man looked up at the white man, "I'm forty years old, I don't listen to Jay-Z"

The black man went back to reading his magazine.

The white man looked over and noticed he was reading the magazine. He knew that blacks only read Ebony or Jet Magazine and it was too big to be a JET Magazine, "What's that, Ebony Magazine?"

The black man slowly looked up again. 'No BusinessWeek Magazine"

The black man lowered his head and continued reading.

The white guy realized this was not going well at all. The white guy really want to show he wasn't a racist, "That Al Sharpton sure is the man ain't he?"

The black guy looked up even slower than he did before. "Don't know, never met him?"

"Oh" said the white guy.

The black guy continued reading his magazine.

"Wow", continued the white guy, "that Halle Berry is one fine bit..."

The black guy looked up quickly, "Excuse me!"

The white guy seemed taken aback, "What kind of black person are you? You don't listen to rap, you don't read Ebony, and you don't call black women b's ."

The train came to a stop. The black man stood up to leave and looked down at the white man, "I'm not black, I am an African American. Sorry I didn't live down to your expectations"

The African American man walked off the train without ever looking back.

The white guy seemed surprised, "Wow that sure was one uppity......

THE END

George L. Cook III

Read more of George Cook's articles at http://www.letstalkhonestly.com/LTHarticles.html