Growing up I never really dealt with racism, yeah there were a few times here and there, but nothing ever too serious. However, there was this one corner store in my old town. “Grab N Go”, was owned by this white family that everyone in the town knew about, and it was ran by this racist Old Man always yelling at minorities for “stealing”. His son on the other hand was a pretty cool dude, I think he was around 17 because he always had his 02 M3 parked in front of the store. My friends and I at the time were about 11 or 12, and all I could remember was always standing outside that store just starring at the car while my older friends were busy rolling up out back.

The Old Man would never let us in with our bookbags, but for some odd reason would let the white kids in with theirs. So, knowing the fact that we’re kids and never listened to anyone, especially some racist old man with a short temper, we always brought our bags in anyways. Well I wouldn’t say always, depending on who was with us at the time, and how we were feeling that day, but most of the time we would.

However, I remember this one day in particular, it was mid-summer, maybe July or August. My one good friend Amir was with us and on this day, we were feeling bold. It was a group of about 10 or 11 and he always hated when a lot of kids were in his store, especially because that means 10 or 11 bookbags too. I always had a set routine, grab my blue Gatorade, and a pack of sunflower seeds, argue with Pops for a little then be on my way. But as I’m reaching for my Gatorade, I hear the old man scream “YOU BETTER NOT BE STEALING MY SHIT YOU N*****”. We all knew he was racist, but this was the first time we ever heard him say that word. As I turn around all I see is Amir launch a full can of watermelon Arizona through the air, smacking the old man right in the face sending him straight back and knocking over all the cigarettes stacked up behind him.

Everybody immediately rushed for the door and cut right through the ally way, all running in full sprint and clapping up Amir for what he just did. A week later the store had a “Closed” sign on it. And we never saw the Old Man ever again…