Political Cartoons

Trailing slightly behind coworkers today as we left a farewell luncheon at the Millington Chili's, I walked into the end of a greeting between the aforementioned coworkers and a group of well-dressed businessmen enjoying their lunch at a nearby table. Greetings had already been made and not recognizing any of the party, my brief conversation with the eldest gentleman ran thus:


He: Hello, what is your name?
Me: Erin, sir. And yours?
He: A.C. Wharton, and this (indicating the man next to him) is Harold Ford, Jr.
Me: (waving back to Ford and struggling desperately not to laugh) Pleasure to meet you, sir. Enjoy your lunch.


Mundane conversation, indeed, and hardly worth mentioning except that these two gentlemen were the mayor of Shelby County and the former representative to TN's 9th congressional district. Whoops!

Well, firstly - I obviously know of these two politicians. I do my bit of reading of current and local affairs on the internet, but not only was my previous local news-watching minimal, but now I don't even own a tv at all. The problem is that without the image-laden local news on tv, I could have spouted a fair bit of knowledge about the politicians but couldn't have identified them in a line up had my life depended on it.

Now, why the suppressed laughter? Oh, I had to laugh at myself. As far as I know, Willie Herenton could have been at the same table, and I'd still be completely obvious. And I suppose some people would be shocked and slightly horrified that a conscious-minded voter could be so ignorant of the very people who represent and work for her. But... you know? Until I start voting for people based on their looks and not their platform, I can't really say as I care. But still, you meet somebody this important and you feel like a fool for not recognizing them.

Second reason I had to suppress the laughter? Because in that nanosecond after Wharton introduced himself, the first thing that came to mind was, "Oh, I'm sorry. You guys all look alike." *sigh* Me and my bad, bad sense of humor, lol. And of course I couldn't say it, not least of all because nobody would think I was joking. And as I sat in the back of my coworker's car on the ride back to work, my giggles died. I know I have a very off-beat sense of humor and find the most inappropriate things funny, but it makes me sad when what SHOULD be a joke is too real and smacks too much of truth in a racially charged world. Maybe if people could learn to lighten up and regrow their funny bone, these issues wouldn't be so explosive. Maybe we could address them and move beyond them. Heaven knows you could cut the racial tension in Memphis with a knife. The stabbing murder a few days ago just proves my point.