Tuesday, March 30, 2010
An interesting experience
I just got back from a run. My usual loop is down lindell and back on west pine. This involves dodging moving vehicles and the many pedestrians walking around on the sidewalk. As any polite individual would do one usually indicated that they are passing or going around another individual by saying to your left (or right) or excuse me. On my way back down west pine I had to dodge my way around a group of African-American individuals hanging out, outside a residence. As I made my way around them I said excuse me as I would any other group of people I cut around. As I passed this group however one woman in the group started yelling after me what did you say girl, what did you say. And continued to ask the others in the group loud enough that I could still hear her down the street what I had said. This interaction bothered me. I was under the impression that I was treating the group of people with respect because I was being polite and the woman automatically assumed I had said something racist by her response to my actions. I didn't understand how this woman could assume that because I even though to say something to the group and that I was white made me a racist. We talked in class about how minorities can not be racist because they are the othered group. However, this is a clear example of how individuals who are minorities can be racist against what is considered a majority. The woman was racist in assuming because I was white I would have made a racist comment. Is this me assuming that is what she through or was I interpreting her anger and yelling at me correct?
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I have been in situations like this too that have definitely bothered me. Unfortunately, you have to assume that the reason this woman is yelling at you probably has nothing to do with you at all. She is more likely yelling because white people in the past have treated her with disrespect. Throughout this class and this blog, people have over and over again told stories of people making remarks that we all see as blatant racism and others see as simply the truth, a joke, or no big deal. When people like that lash out, its probably a result of past experiences that have translated to anger. Or... maybe this woman was simply being mean. Had she actually heard you, or had been told what you said, she probably would have been shocked and relieved at your politeness. Or perhaps, no one has treated her with enough respect to say "excuse me." I definitely understand your frustration, but I would not take it too personally. To me, its like when a waitress apologizes profusely for a simple mistake-- you know she is doing this because in the past it has either made a customer very angry or caused her to lose her tip. We all sometimes react wayyyy tooooo quickly due to past experiences.
ReplyDeleteHey Kaitlyn,
ReplyDeleteI definitely understand your frustration in what you experienced. I think we have all had similar instances happen to us, and they are unfortunate. Why? For one, it's uncomfortable - and being put in an uncomfortable situation is going to make one interpret it differently than a normal situation. Two, instances like this reinforces our racist sentiments (based on skin color) and the idea stereotypes exist BECAUSE "people like this are doing what they're doing". Up until this point, we like to think of ourselves as neutral and not racist, but I would have felt angry at how the girl reacted just like you did, and I know I would have thought something similar to, "Way to perpetuate the black stereotype." But like Lauren said, we try our best to make sure bad past experiences like this do not guide or actions in future ones.
We can't really say if you are interpreting her response in the correct way, because we can't honestly know what she thought you said. The chances she was just being rude could just as likely be she misinterpreting your inflection or body language incorrectly. Her response was unfortunate, but unless you talked to her you wouldn't know. What I think might be interesting is viewing this from the point that the group was white - imagine a white woman said that same thing to you. Would you be asking the same questions, or would it be based in something else? My first assumption would be that maybe you'd think she heard you wrong. It just goes to show how unfortunate it is that instances like this happen to perpetuate thoughts on minorities. If they weren't perpetuated, we wouldn't be having this conversation. And this isn't to say you are wrong in any way; quite contrary - I'd be reacting just like you.
Finally, I think it's important to emphasize that in class we didn't say the minority group couldn't be racist - we just said they couldn't "other the normative group." I draw a distinction between those two things. Othering a group is marking them so that you contrast them against yourself, your idea of how reality should be, or against the majority group - it sets up distinctions. Being racist, on the other hand, is drawing distinctions and conclusions based on characteristics like skin color. So while I think you are correct in saying she may have been acting racist - I think it's completely possible for a black person to act racist against a white. That's what it sounds like happened in this situation... there was a gap in interpretation between 2 people and - sadly - those gaps were filled in by skin color and the related ideas to that color (or gender, whiteness, etc.).
In response to both comments you are reading my frustration the opposite as I had intended it to come out. I was not frustrated because this woman was "perpetrating the black stereotypes" rather that I was perpetrating the a white stereotype. It was when people are ignorant, meaning they take a past experience or anger and apply it to all situations in the present or future. This in my opinion is the root of racism. It is similar to the video we watched in class where we saw not to take one story and apply it to all similar cases. Racism today in my opinion is bases of this ignorance. The fact that people hear, see, are involved in certain situations then take those situations and apply them to a general group of people. This woman may have had pent up anger or had past racially upsetting experiences but the fact that she was ignorant enough to apply these past experiences will all to come is racist in this case. ignorance leads to stereotypes and that is what she was applying to my actions. That is why I was frustrated.
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