Not your typical racist rant

There's something that's had my hackles up for a while. And it's nothing one person did to me and frankly nothing I can change on my own. What's got me irked is that I'm a White(ish) guy who willingly takes the local public transit system and I'm looked down upon for it by others who share my skin tone!

Now mind you, St. Louis is a throwback to older days in terms of hardcore classism, racism and segregation. These, at least here, are tied together fairly deeply. Most suburban White folk tend to not pay attention to it and if they do, it's only casually and then they go about they business while complaining about someone playing a 'race card'. I'm one of the exceptions because I grew up in an area that was mostly Black. It's why I feel more comfortable around Black folk and why I can relate to them and understand the racism that goes on daily. I've seen it first hand from my family (paternal side, mostly) and from when I've been the only White person in the group.
I've been told for years that I've got a Black Soul and it's kinda true. But it's due to the exposure I've had to Black folk since I was a baby. I was taught to distrust Blacks, though not directly. You pick up stuff like that through the behaviors of your parents and their actions and inactions. I ignored those teachings. Why? No Black person I've come across has acted like what everyone who doesn't share they skin tone expect them to, based on fear. Are there Black people who act like fools with no home training or respect for themselves and others? You damn right, but there are people like that in every skin tone group, culture, society and what not!
And I've been told I've got to act "less Black" and act "more White". *rolls eyes* What exactly is that? To be ignorant or others, live in fear inside a house I can't afford with several cars I don't need just to keep up an image in an endless charade war with my neighbors? No thank you.

My biggest problem in all this is how I'm looked down upon by other White folk because I take the Metrobus and MetroLink. It's as if they look at me like something is wrong, as if I got two heads or I'm a frak up in life. Like I've lost my license or that I must be jobless thus carless. I'm pitied and frowned upon at the same time.
Not that this is true for all White folk, but it is the majority. Look, I take the local public transit system willingly and without reservation. I save HUNDREDS of dollars every month because I choose to not have a car. Sure, it takes me longer to get home after work but I don't have to deal with stupid drivers, gas prices or the normal worries of car ownership.
You know, I get asked if I feel safe taking the bus and train? As if being around "those people" is a threat! And that's the mindset of the region I live in!! I prefer to live in the city and not suburbia and I get asked the same damn thing because of it. It's as if I'm a defect and I should be pitied because I don't want or do what others who look like me do and I am sick of it!

By taking the bus, I've met some of the most wonderfully kind people I've had the pleasure of coming across. There's a kinship and family feel about those who take the bus/train (regularly), we watch out for one another. I'm also keenly aware of how underfunded the local system is due to views about the system and also because local politicians take money away from it to line either they own pockets or to fund roads that don't get built. They have the money set aside "just in case". Even though voters passed a tax measure to fund the system, politicians take away up to 60% of the funds for other means that don't happen. Why don't people speak out about it? They aren't told, so they don't know. And not everyone has access to the Internet or have a computer or a smartphone. If they can't access where the information is (thank you Paperless Era, ugh!) or know how to find it or are even told about it, then how can they be informed?
And now that the economy is shit and more White folk are taking the transit system, state politicians and The NRA want to pass a measure to allow concealed weapons on the bus and train WITHOUT informing the Transit Authorities in St. Louis or Kansas City! Thankfully the story broke and these authorities are acting against the measure. But it's the point that you want to "protect" White people from "those people", while at the same time you want to keep funding away or servery limited. I don't get 'it', I don't see where the threat is other than your irrationality, fear and prejudice.
Let me say this clearly: I trust those with illegally concealed weapons over those who have permits. Why? Because those who are illegally carrying will think twice before firing a shot while the person whose got a permit expects everyone to be armed thus a threat and ready to mug them and thus won't hesitate (out of fear and the mindset that the law is on they side) to shoot someone whose got a darker complexion than they do.

I am happy without a car and I am happy where I live. I feel as safe as a paranoid person can and I love the public transit system and utilize it with pride. Sure it could be tweaked, but that's always going to be there with shifts in ridership. A problem that this country as a whole has is how behind the Eight Ball we are. We build and expand public transit as a reaction to population growth. What we need to do is get in front of the Eight Ball and build systems on projections of what and where the populations will be in 10 years. So by the time measures are passed and construction is done you're not in a frantic mode to expand and build out of reaction.
We also need a National Public Transit System! And seriously, shut the frak up about Socialist mentalities. We need that in this country! We are not too big to do this because we need it. We need to get ahead of the ball and build a system that can move our population around fast, in an affordable manner and easily. China, Russia, The EU, Canada...they are all doing this and have been for over a decade while we've been scared stupid by the "terrorist threat" that the rest of the world dealt with 20 years ago! Our system is out of date and yet we scream, proclaim and shove it in everyone else's faces about how much better we are and how "America is the best". Yet we can't even fix our own problems of a frail, crumbling and faulty infrastructure; a Health Care system that puts profit over people (don't tell me we can't do Universal Health Care since Russia and China have it in place!); homelessness; joblessness and shipping what jobs we do have overseas; xenophobia and finally our failed political system (i.e. corporate welfare through the corporations actually running this country).

I am sick of the weird reverse racism I get from White people because I speak up and live my life by my rules. I don't accept your veiled pity, I reject your scorn and I fight your hypocrisy! I am not an accurate representation of the White Person you'd like to have me be. Deal with it!