I debated about this with my friends who were on the receiving end of the incident. Was the client aware that the employees were skinheads? Was the client aware that the employees were abusive and intimidating to customers? Does the client even care?

We care. My friend is now boycotting the business.

Here in SoCal, race is both an issue, and a non-issue. It's a non-issue in that so many of us in SoCal are mixes. My friend with the problem last night is Mexican, Irish, Spanish, and Native American. He is lighter than me, but is seen as "Brown" or Mexican by the skins. We talked about "passing" and how his great-grandparents did it and how both my grandfathers did it. Yes, in 1937 in SoCal, to be Irish was to work in the strawberry fields along side Brown people, which my grandfather did. My grandfather told people that Hanen was a German name after a time to get better jobs. My father found out we were Irish for the first time only when I confronted my grandfather with the proof three summers ago.

Thus, race is an issue in that it's shaped the very demographics of this corner of the world, even in the music that comes out of it. My friend and I also discussed bands that we love and how we wish to some degree that we didn't know about their politics. I told them about last night's post on the Dropkicks, as the DKM have a tendency to attract skins of the wrong sort as well as punks of all races. I have questioned if I should even be listening to the Dropkicks and have discussed this with friends who work at the Dropkicks' label and know the band. Inconclusive.

Everyone involved plans on calling the business' owner to discuss the situation, including me. I am very uncomfortable with having a known skinhead establishment's website as a client. It is an insult to my friends and to my princples. It is an insult to pay good money and then be intimidated by drunk skins.

I feel strongly that America, and more particularly my state of California, first and foremost, is for all. Not just a few.

I want to give my client the benefit of the doubt. But I will also cancel if we can't resolve the issue.

Update on 04.18.05 at 6:35pm - Erika and I trotted around LA on errands today and discussed this post and the incident, even as we found ourselves stopping at a school yard to break up a bully/fight of which 5 kids were beating up a child of a different race. I pulled the car over and Erika ran out and broke up the fight.

Very early this morning I turned this post from "publish" to "draft" while I thought over if I wanted this post to be out in public on my blog, as it seemed too personal. I had Erika read it and she said that I should publish it again with a bit of editing. "Part of Black Phoebe's charm is that it is personal; a blend of regional interests and high techno-rati." So, on that note, I will save and set this post to "publish" again.