There's an African that works at the grocery store I shop at. Not a black guy, but an out and out African. He's the checker of the 10 items or less lane on weekdays, which is the lane I usually go through.
Sometimes he likes to talk to the checker in the other lane about various things he finds interesting about America. One Thursday while I was in line, they were talking about Charity Date Auctions, and how strange it was to auction someone off for a date. They were both talking about how much either of them would fetch, in a jovial manner.
Trying for once to be a normal person, I said "Come on man, anyone would be a fool not to pay a couple hundred bucks for you."
I had just told a black man I thought he was worth a couple hundred bucks.
I now take my groceries to the regular check-out lane on the other side of the store, even though I still have less than ten.
But MAYBE...
...he was just really flattered.