The Racist Joke  I'm with my friend Nelson Eastman, Uncle Phil from the television show The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and others, in a room. Nelson tells true story a bout what I said the previous night when I was drunk. I said it's your kind of joke, referring to the high school boys back home. The joke goes something like, "What's worse than Robin Givens face?" or "How is Robin Spence's face like a ___ ( I forget)?" The punch line is "Roman Meal", which is the whitish colored corn mush. This is a racist joke. I say I don't remember telling the joke, because I don't. I sit in a bathtub feeling very guilty about making a racist joke. The judge looks very sternly at me and asks for my explanation. I don't speak. There is a man with Nelson and I, the judge is now a ways away. The man says that he told the joke, not I! The joke wasn't mine and wasn't told by me. The judge comes over. I say to the man that he needs to tell the judge this or I will. He doesn't tell the judge. I tell the judge. The judge doesn't understand at first. Then he realizes that I didn't tell the joke, that the other man did, and that he projected the joke onto me. I am furious! I stand up in the bathtub and start to yell at the judge. I throw a drill bit-like piece of metal and some utensils. I am enraged at being accused and vindicate myself. I seem to work at the place I am, and I now quit my job and walk out. I get to the Redding farm porch where Oprah Winfrey and another prominent black woman are. I tell them as I nearly break down in tears, that "He thinks I told a racist joke but I didn't! I'm not racist!" They console me and we walk outside. I say I need to be alone, and I run off feeling very frustrated and agitated. I'm near 3rd Street and Home Avenue in Oak Valley on the sidewalk. The "oppressors" are at Carter School. It's winter. I run with a t-shirt on. I get to the hill at the bottom of our alley. A tow truck drives down the alley and skids quickly to a stop in the show so it doesn't hit a vehicle coming up the hill on 2nd Street. I walk towards home and think about drawing this dream for the afternoon and not going back to school at Carter School. I feel in control of the situation. I have the upper hand on the people involved.