A FABLE OF THE BLACK WHITES AND THE WHITE BLACKS

A FABLE .. .

twas during the time when, in order to wipe out racial prejudice once and for all, all Whites and Blacks in the land were wearing specially tinted glasses that made, to a White, a Black appear white and made, to a Black, a White appear black. Additionally, the special glasses made Whites appear white to Whites and made Blacks appear black to Blacks. Therefore, when a White looked at a White or a Black looked at a Black through the glasses, neither White nor Black knew if he were looking at a White or at a Black. One day one White, who never had liked wearing glasses in the first place and who, in his pre-glasses days, had been very, very prejudiced against Blacks in the second place, said the hell with it, took off his glasses, and threw them away. At once all the Blacks he looked at looked black. At first the White was happy because it allowed him once again to enjoy his prejudice, which he had missed for some time now. But the trouble was that nowadays the rest of the Whites were no longer prejudiced, because they wore special glasses, and so when the one White let the other Whites know about his new-found prejudice, he was very much disliked by all the other Whites. So the White who had thrown away his glasses decided to get another pair so that he wouldn’t be an object of prejudice himself to the other Whites. So he hurried to the Official Glass Maker, who happened to be a Black. Since he wasn’t wearing glasses, the White’s ferocious prejudice lashed out until it was fully visible to the Black, who didn’t like it one bit, especially in this day and age of non-prejudice via the special glasses. So the Glass Maker, surreptitiously and with a concealed chuckle, made the White a pair of glasses that, instead of making Blacks white, made Blacks blacker.

JK

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John Keefauver

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A FABLE .. .

twas during the time when, in order to wipe out racial prejudice once and for all, all Whites and Blacks in the land were wearing specially tinted glasses that made, to a White, a Black appear white and made, to a Black, a White appear black. Additionally, the special glasses made Whites appear white to Whites and made Blacks appear black to Blacks. Therefore, when a White looked at a White or a Black looked at a Black through the glasses, neither White nor Black knew if he were looking at a White or at a Black. One day one White, who never had liked wearing glasses in the first place and who, in his pre-glasses days, had been very, very prejudiced against Blacks in the second place, said the hell with it, took off his glasses, and threw them away. At once all the Blacks he looked at looked black. At first the White was happy because it allowed him once again to enjoy his prejudice, which he had missed for some time now. But the trouble was that nowadays the rest of the Whites were no longer prejudiced, because they wore special glasses, and so when the one White let the other Whites know about his new-found prejudice, he was very much disliked by all the other Whites. So the White who had thrown away his glasses decided to get another pair so that he wouldn’t be an object of prejudice himself to the other Whites. So he hurried to the Official Glass Maker, who happened to be a Black. Since he wasn’t wearing glasses, the White’s ferocious prejudice lashed out until it was fully visible to the Black, who didn’t like it one bit, especially in this day and age of non-prejudice via the special glasses. So the Glass Maker, surreptitiously and with a concealed chuckle, made the White a pair of glasses that, instead of making Blacks white, made Blacks blacker.