Betty Love, Gerontology 2010

He was just expressing his First Amendment right...Right?

And speaking as a black female I have to say that either you are going to pursue your dreams inspite of others and their negative intentions or your not going to live at all. That's what up!

And to the author of this story: FO' SHO" please don't every be mislead...hate, "the blame game", and injustice is here and here to stay. These green-eyed monsters will rear their heads from the beginning of time...until the end.

In this case I honestly don't believe the man's views had anything to do with the "progression of 2008"; more like the "digressions of the 1930's and so forth".
This is "Texas" and he might have been mentally impaired. There is a very real new and improved mainstream "Church of KKK" movement that circles from New Jersey through Chicago. Why wouldn't it already have connected itself to Texas.?.

But as it seems it sucks that the author had to have his breakfast spoiled by an expression of hate; but imagine having your life altered daily by those same expressions.

To the author, welcome the to real world. The irony is, you seem to have been the only one offended in all of this. Therefore, all this article amounts to is a self-victimization narrative. Get over it - you're wasting your energy if you let things like this offend you. Now, was the guy a douchebag for getting a tattoo like this? Yes. But you don't know anything beyond that and all you did was create some introverted fantasy when the reality probably is no one was ever actually discriminated against (although you did call the guy 'fat'). So, if this was meant to be an irony piece where you were judging someone by the color of their skin, etc., fine. But if this really offended you, my advice would be to find an internship, co-op, or graduate now and get the hell out in the real world because there are far worse things the average person of any color, creed, whatever - trait X - will mostly likely encounter and typically, they don't let it offend them. In my opinion, if you maintain your current worldview, you are going to make the rest of your life pretty bitter and that would be the real tragedy.

This is the most self absorbed thing I've ever read in my life. Instead of actually writing something meaningful about racism you decide to make the experience all about yourself, a fat white privileged liberal arts student(I saw your pic in the Batt.)

Learn to write.

"A robust, barrel-chested man seemingly suffering from some kind of ambulatory disability shuffled incongruously on pencil legs up to the counter of the Texas Avenue Whataburger. He sported a weathered collection of various cheaply-drawn tattoos emblazoned up and down his arms."

"I had to look thrice to verify"

No one speaks like this outside games of Dungeons and Dragons.

Disgusting.
I hope that we never welcome anyone to College Station on the basis of racism. If this is the status quo of this town, it must change. And in order for that to happen, we must become sensitive to what is going on around us. If we simply welcome ourselves to the real world and accept racism for what it is, what rights are being stripped? What part of being a human are we losing? All of the work that so many before us has done simply unraveled because this is the "real world"?! If this is the real world, then may I never be a part of it.
The author acknowledges at the end of his piece the vast movement that America has made in destroying racism at its core. That does not mean we are to become apathetic and accept it the way it is. If we had accepted that attitude from the beginning, would blacks be given the right to vote? Would women be given the right to vote? If we accepted it for the way it is, those of other races would not be here at Texas A&M. If we accepted it for the way it is, women (your friends, your family, your professors) would not be here. No, this is not the way that it should be; and if it is in fact true that no one in that Whataburger was offended except for our author, then we have an even more serious problem.
I'm glad that some still mourn the pain from the past; we need that to make changes.

Racism is bad, I agree. But can you NOT write as if it were the middle ages?

NO ONE WRITES LIKE THAT ANYMORE!

Your editor should be fired for allowing this to be published!

Why would you judge someone and make assumptions about their views of other people or the world based on the pattern of colors they have stenciled in to their skin? That sounds kind of bigoted and stereotypical.

Mr. Irwin's grandiose wording diminishes his point, making his story more laughable than disturbing. Furthermore, he speculates wildly about the cultural impact of a tattoo without contributing anything useful to a reasoned discussion of race. He seems to be a victim of his own immersion in history, unable to set that aside and discuss (without the pretentious prose) current race relations.

"Friends, my heart catches and chokes like a heavy stone in my throat as I write this"

That sensation was probably caused by the biscuit you tried to put in your mouth. Fair warning, if I ever see you choking on a biscuit in Whataburger, I will perform the Heimlich on you. However, I'm a pretty big, strong dude, so you might cough up last week's food, as well as that biscuit. Fair warning.

Isn't it you that is being judgmental, showing a huge ammount of prejudice to a man that might have learned many years ago that racism was disgusting? Perhaps he got the tat as a young man, growing up in a racist household, but over the years he learned that it is a terrible thing. Maybe he doesn't have the money to get the tat removed, because it is quite expensive. I hope I didn't rain on your Nobel peace prize essay (Everyone caught the "Shawshank" drama, btw), but you obviously are a primadona who is just as racist as the next. I hope you dont get your wish (painfuly obvious), and Obama doesn't get the chance to show you a world where the whites have to "repay" the years of "injustice". I hate to break it to you, but this country is overly aware of the terrible injustices that went on a few genrations ago, but we are commiting over-kill trying to make it "right". Keep trying to rally the racism police, but I can assure you that all you are doing is throwing wood on a pile of coals.

Well, at least you got his point and how it related to you without him ever saying a word. I'm still trying to figure out your point and how it relates to me.

Some people are like that, though. They do not want our company and we are happy to oblige. They go away and leave us happier for their going. Don't let their hatred rub off on you or you'll just end up wasting time writing stuff in the newspaper about it or something.

Now, have another biscuit and cup of coffee and read the paper. There are a lot worse things happening to you in this world than a tattoo.

Prejudice and racism are human faults that exist all over the world. My first job after graduation from TAMU was Peace Corps and I left Texas with my own conservative prejudices that I learned extremely well growing up in Texas. I came back to Texas a much better and educated person with well learned experiences that taught me not to judge a person until you know what's in his soul and heart. In Africa they have a saying - never argue with a fool, nobody else can tell the difference. I now work for NASA and I still use that saying. I like articles that make you think and awake your emotions. Well done.