Nice thing to see

I've been keeping up on the Vang murder story all week, and one of the things that I've noticed creeping into news coverage is the insinuation that racial relations in Northern Wisconsin are not necessarily good, that there may be tension between the white and Hmong communities, etc, etc. I lived in that part of the state for the first 18 plus years of my life, and although the area is pretty white, I haven't really bought into the racial tension story line. This morning I saw something that reaffirmed that a bit. The lovely Mrs. Jib dragged me out to do some dreaded Black Friday shopping in Eau Claire (Jiblog's on the road this weekend). After we finished shopping, we stopped at a McDonald's and had some breakfast. Next to our table were several tables of elderly white gentlemen. At the table next to ours, there were only two of these men, and one got up to get some wild rice for a friend. While he was gone, two Asian women sat down at their table. When he got back and saw they were sitting there, they started to profusely apologize and get up. The man replied, "Oh no, by all means, you two are welcome to sit with us. We've got room here. And you're women. We all like women." This seemed to set the women at ease a bit, although they still got up and chose another booth. It would have been very easy for this guy to have grunted at them, displaying an over all cranky demeanor. Instead, the other guy at that table engaged them in conversation even after they moved.

Now Eau Claire is removed from Rice Lake by 45 or 50 minutes or so, and enjoys much more racial diversity, but that was a positive thing to see in a town that is still pretty dang white, and which has a large Hmong population.