but let's miss america

i find myself, once again, having to defend my race and the way i look. today, my very swiss looking cousin a couple of his friends, and i were trying to have a good, healthy night of unhealthy fun: eat, smoke some hookah, play some sing star and then go to a club and dance the night away.
everything went according to plan until the time came to go into the club. one of the cool things about switzerland is that there is no such thing as "drunk in public." you can get on a bus with a beer in your hand without a paper bag and drink it: no problem. this is relevant because i was walking to the club with a beer in my hand and when we tried to go in the door man was ready to let us in until he saw me with an empty bottle in my hand: "he has a beer, i'm not letting you guys in" and he closed the door without allowing further discussion.
bull shit, right?
obviously, it wasn't the beer; i could have easily disposed of the bottle and bought another one inside. The reason the doorman wouldn't let me and my 3 white companions in was because i'm dark skinned. and to top it all off, to add insult to injury, to add the drop that spills the cup; i have a piercing. my very swiss friends confirmed my thoughts on the matter.

so, whatever: we go to another club in another town and all is good until the doorman sees me. he asks me for further identification because "he thinks my american driver's license might be fake" i show him my train ticket which includes a birth date from official papers [e.g. my passport] but that's not enough. he then says that i don't "fit the profile for the kind of people that are in the club" a rock club.
we explain to him that i'm a rock fiend, to which he responds "i decide who comes into this club and who doesn't. he doesn't."
this has happened to me in my own country. in the dominican republic i have been denied entry to places, simply because i am dark skinned [of course cleverly disguised as "it's a private party" or "the place is full" and then letting people i know into the club]

so now, here i am: guilty of keeping people i care about from having a good time and dancing and drinking because of the color of my skin.

and americans criticise their country and minorities complain about reparations and unfair treatment, when in reality, compared to the rest of the world, we are very lucky we live in a country like the united states of america. the more i travel and get to know the rest of the world [and i never thought i'd say this] the more i realize that america is, indeed, the greatest country of all.

now i am homesick.

if there is a god, may he truly, fully, and unconditionally, indeed, bless america.

but hey, at least i bought a german playboy from a convenience store, and witnessed a car being consumed by flames.

what a great world we live in!