The latent racism of 8-ball

Incredibly, it had never occurred to me before. Ever.

It was during my freshman year at college. My friends and I were on campus, and we were actively taking advantage of the resources available. We were treating ourselves to a game of pool. Winner retained the table; challengers paid the dollar necessary unpocket the balls.

I was playing L, who was a shark in his own right. He had dreadlocks, and always had the aura of being deep inn thought. In retrospect, it is clear now that he was deep into something of a more organic nature; but for eighteen and nineteen yr-olds, he was cool.

I was lining up for shot. With the sticks in the game room, you needed a periscope and prayer to overcome the bowed equipment.

"Have you ever analyzed the racism involved?" he asked out the blue.

"Huh?" I had long since realized that I wold never make a living off the cue table; still, I needed all the concentration I could get. Starting what I assumed was gonna be a treatise on the socio-economic status of African Americans in the Dirty South was not going to help me at this moment.

He persisted. "Why is the object of the game to use the white ball to knock in every colored ball, and to finally knock the black ball in?"

"What?" That truly went over my head.

"You have to look at the big picture, man. Nothing is ever how it seems. Pool is an expression of white superiority."

I stood up.

I don't claim to be a great thinker. However, this bothered me. I cannot believe I never noticed this and came to this conclusion. In other words, I honestly thought he was pulling my leg.

He wasn't. He was dead serious.

Now, I had a problem. Since I had so clearly fallen prey to the subliminal message, I had a limited amount of time to recoup our loss. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this was easier said than done:

1) Switching the cue ball and the 8-ball does not work. Really. If you're playing on the pay-to-play type tables, don't scratch; it'll get expensive. Plus, everybody (black and white) will look at you funny.

2) Billiards is just way to pretentious for regular people (pretentious, as used here, is a euphemism for complex). Real Gs play pool.

3) Bowling doesn't work. Yeah, on the surface, what is better than 10 white pins waiting on a gleaming globe of ebony to knock 'em down? Well, you try finding an all-black ball that fits correctly at the bowling alley. And how do spares work in the big picture? What about midnight bowling? Too many unexplained variables.

4) Dominoes and oreos just confuse me.

I am not trying to make light of a serious issue; I want to kick the door in. I believe that while issues do exist in the real world, we all need to focus on the numerous ones that are out in the open, versus grasping at supposed concepts buried in the ground.

Today, it is trendy to get fired up. About something. About anything. For example, I am furious with Meck County for closing the game fields this weekend. I am not too happy about Argentina winning soccer gold at the Olympics, and I am quite ticked about Chuck Norris singing the opening theme to Walker, Texas Ranger.

Love supersedes a lot of wrongs, including theme songs and 8-ball conspiracies. Preaching acceptance is easy, but practicing it is a whole different concept. And, I am aiming that to a different demographic than you may have initially guessed. The only thing worse than letting an ill-doing hold one back is allowing a perceived ill hold the same weight.

I don't think we ever finished that game. I wonder if I could get my dollar back.

Another big shout-out to Brent and Dennis. If they are cue balls, they are the type that knock change into occurring.

Much thanks to Reijii and rlr77 for making their fantastic work available via Creative Commons License on Flickr.