Sometimes, I think that people protest too much about the things they claim to hate. A lot of homophobes have been proven to be secretly gay or lesbian. And I think some racists have an attraction to the very race they claim to hate, and I think they hate themselves for it, thus fueling their hatred and self-disgust. I know these things because I've been there. My name is Rose Darling. I was born in the City of Austin, State of Texas. My family, the Darling clan, is as redneck as they come. We own a big farm in the Amarillo area, and like many Texans, we're not fond of the Hispanics, African-Americans and Chinese people who are changing our home state and the rest of America's demographics.
I embraced wholeheartedly the racist beliefs which my parents, Louis and Muriel Darling, espoused. And then I fell in love with Karim Adewale, a young Black man from the City of Lagos, Republic of Nigeria, whom I met during my senior year at the University of Texas in downtown Austin. From that day forward my world would never be the same. How to describe Karim Adewale? A six-foot-four, well-built, dark-skinned young man born and bred in the continent of Africa's largest nation. This proud Nigerian was raised in the City of London, England, by immigrant parents. He held an advanced degree in civil engineering from Oxford University, the legendary British University thought to be the oldest University on the planet Earth.
Karim Adewale was twenty seven years old, and had joined the adjunct faculty of the University of Texas. I must say that us rednecks in metropolitan Austin weren't quite sure how to take this guy who was built like an NBA player, spoke with an upper-class British accent, and quoted Shakespeare. I have been around African-Americans my whole life. My family doesn't like them much. And they don't like us either. I've seen smart Black students at University of Texas but the Nigerian guy was in a league of his own. The guy had seventeen books which he published while still an undergraduate student at Oxford University. I found links to his best-selling non-fiction works on Amazon.com and its affiliates in Canada and the United Kingdom. The guy wrote about European politics, the return of Pagan religions, women's rights, the clashing of values between Christians and Muslims in sub-Saharan Africa, among others. And he wasn't even thirty years old. I hated to admit it at the time, but I was impressed. When he spoke, it was with a loud and clear voice. The guy looked good in a suit, and his British accent was oddly charming. A lot of the girls in Mr. Adewale's classes at University of Texas were smitten with him. That was to be expected. I just didn't expect to be one of them.
The State of Texas is quite different from the rest of the United States of America. We have our own ways, our own values. Lately, it seems that a lot of outsiders are trying to change the ways of Texas, and us rednecks aren't going down without a fight. First, there were the Mexicans. By Mexicans I don't just mean people from Mexico. I'm referring to guys and gals from Venezuela, Puerto Rico, El Salvador and a bunch of Spanish-speaking nations full of dark-haired, bronze-or-brown-skinned people who saw America as their next oasis. I am not in love with them, as you can tell, but at least ninety nine percent of them are Christians. I'm a good Christian woman, so that matters to me. Lately, Arabs have been coming to Texas too, and they're building their mosques in our towns and cities. I watch all that with more than a bit of concern.
