It is finally our momentous day, the day we've been working towards for weeks; Gay Pride Day. We live in a small enough town, but one with a surprisingly large queer community, large enough to have a parade and run events for the weekend. We had been working on events for queer youth, goofy things like Twister tournaments and a T-Shirt Surgery workshop. One of the larger and more elaborate events was a human chess match, which we had gone out of our way to make huge crowns and signs for. We were proud of our handiwork, and well after the event we still wore the crowns around, holding our heads high.
Fast-forward to the wee hours of the morning, after the parties were done and we, the volunteers, have just finished cleaning up the hall. We are outside, awaiting a taxi to take us to our after party where we can actually relax and have our own fun. We wait for hours. We call several times. No one else is around. We're very exhausted and starting to get edgy, but to keep ourselves awake and entertained, we keep up the idle chatter. Somehow, the topic turns to racism and free speech, some of us fiercely against using particular words, some of us fiercely against censorship. Finally, in frustration, one volunteer shouts, and I quote, "NIGGERS NIGGERS NIGGERS!" While this is happening, a van parks not feet from where we are standing, completely unnoticed, and a group of at least four young black men climb out. One stares, and moves closer, very close. He looks directly at our loud volunteer friend and asks, slowly, "What's going on here?"
We all wait, one heartbeat, two.
The man gestures at all of us and says, "What's with the hats?"
