The Strange Case of Mr. Racey

We are all held accountable for our actions and will live with the consequences, regardless of whether we want to or not.

There is a house not far from where I live and I will stroll by it, on occasion, just to see what’s up with this old curmudgeon I call Mister Racey. I call him that because I assume from the flags he hangs outside his house that his views are probably somewhat racist. I don’t think that’s too far a jump into assumptions. Every day, Mister Racey flies two flags about his small house. They are either a) weekday combination of yellow flag with snake and “Don’t Tread On Me” slogan and the confederate flag of the South United States from the civil Ware era.
or
b) The Weekend duo of the Swastika flag of the Nazi Party of Third Reich from World War II Germany and the Stars and Bars from South U.S.

These two interchanged combos are up every day of the year and anyone on this side of town has learned to pretty much ignore old mister Racey. On Sunny days, I will see him on his porch with some large breed of dog, just glaring silently as traffic rolls by his house on this busy street. Mister Racey has created the world in which he lives through his actions of overt expression on his social views. Mister Racey wants you to know he is a racist son-of-a-bitch and challenges any who defy his rights to be a racist son-of-a-bitch and hang those flags outside his little cottage in America….and yes, Mister Racey, you are allowed this right. However, you also must live with the consequences of your actions within a tribe of neighbors.

When I strolled by Mister Racy’s house today I noticed a new addition to his visual tirade on racial views. Someone, perhaps and probably him, had neatly painted “Helter Skelter 666” on the side of his house in red paint. I snapped some shots just as a local news station sedan was parked and chatting with a neighbor about the house. I’m not sure yet what the outcome of all this is, but you never know when a powder keg of craziness has just been lit, so I try to look for signs of a potential ignition and stand by.

This man’s house has been assaulted in the past and it wears the scars of all the intimidation he puts up with. His windows are boarded up and he lives inside this prison, a sentence that runs, at least, as long as those flags fly outside. It would make no sense for someone else to paint a slur from a Beatles/Charles Manson point of view on his house. I’m pretty sure-without asking him-that he painted that. I did not see it being painted, perhaps a neighbor witnessed it, but I would have to conclude that Mister Racey is headed for the proverbial deep end of the pool and he can’t swim.

Mister Racey is a living example of what the consequences of your actions can create. I don’t agree with the man’s (assumed) racist views. He has been a visual, living lesson we learn through from his outward home display. He is a poster child for what cynicism and hatred and racism breeds; a denizen for ills in our society. His house with those flags waving above is something for you to show kids and point to and say “this is what comes with that type behavior…a self made Hell”.

Well rave on, Mr. Racey, but we are keeping an eye on you. We don’t want you ending up naked on Emerson Avenue with a shotgun threatening people in cars. You have ventured into a war zone but you must remember and understand that you have created this deranged ‘Sang-Gr-La’ yourself, and you have the ability to stop the monster inside you that alienated you from everyone. We all understand about your rights, but you have gone over the line on your neighborly etiquette. You are the horror of the neighborhood, not the pride, not the happy old man that lives down the lane…..and now the outside of your house has this maniacal message scrawled on it, where is this all gonna go?

I talked to a bus driver the other day and we agreed with one another that younger generations have no idea about social skills other than what was passed down to them. In example, young kids aren’t held to understand that it is proper to give up a seat on the bus for a woman or the elderly. That and other neighborly social skills have gone away and leaves our youth ignorant to what makes for a more calm existence living among one another. People seem to be too busy shooting one another rather than learn to interact with one another, and you, Mister Racy, have been a visual expression of why we learn to live with one another rather than alienate each other.

I pity you, Mister Racey, and hope one day you might walk in The Church.