 |
| -The original letter from Ishema Kane- source The Huffington Post |
While I have several topics which I want to add to
this blog, I had a moment with myself the other day that has caused me to put
them on the back burner.
I was at the laundromat doing, well naturally, my laundry. It was
after midnight, because sometimes that is the only time I have, so I was alone
for awhile until a man walked in with-surprise-laundry. He couldn’t have been much older than me, and
nothing about him seemed particularly dangerous, but I found myself having an instinctual
reaction as if I was in danger. I realized
I felt this way because the man was black.
Then I felt like an asshole. During
the very process of my trying to educate myself about racism and discrimination
and ways that people can fight against this, I was, however unintentionally,
being racist. Literally, I was reading
an essay about classism when this happened to me, this random fear of this
man, when there was no reason to feel that way.
Being the ever curious woman I am, I came home and
wanted to investigate this more, and came across covert and overt
racism. Overt racism is exactly what it
sounds like, blatant hate and discrimination.
Covert racism, on the other hand is tricky business. How I had felt when that man had walked in
was covert racism. This is the same
treatment that happens, most often to minorities, when they are followed in a
store (speaking from a decade in retail, truth is, everyone steals, not just minorities). Every time a person adds to a thought or in
conversation:
- That is so black
- She speaks English really well for a Hispanic
- I didn’t think he was gay, he seems so masculine
- They looked poor, they must have bought that car
with welfare
- Wow, for a <insert anything other than white
male here> he/she turned out really well
They are guilty of covert
racism and/or discrimination. Chances are, we
are not even aware we are doing it, or that it is continuing the systems of
oppression that continue to work in this country at all times. We say and think things like this ALL THE
TIME and we need to stop. I am not saying it is easy, clearly I found myself
thinking in a racist way without intending to, but when we catch ourselves doing
this, ask: “Why am I really thinking this way?”
Society perpetuates this veiled discrimination and we continue it as we
don’t question it into adulthood. Given the above examples, I am also not
excluding anyone from being guilty of this, at some time, everyone thinks in a
way that is discriminatory to someone else.
However, there are resources to continue to educate us, and I am not
just talking textbooks and essays- one particular site I am across www.changefromwithin.org is an
amazing website created by Jaimie Utt, who takes an open and frank approach to
discussing discrimination and racism, and how we can make changes to stop these
cycles.
With my rant complete, here is a humbling story which
I feel proves, if nothing else will, that hate is learned, not a naturally
occurring thing. Ishema Kane, a young
girl from Germany, wrote a letter to a newspaper- on her own- telling them how
angry she was that older children’s books still had the word nigger in them
(the spelling is different in German, but the meaning is the same). I was not even aware that books still used
this term, much less that they were still being printed with them in it. As a child from a mixed racial background,
Ishema understood that the word was hateful and reacted emotionally against it,
and more power to her! While changes
have not been made to remove this word from children’s books, if more people
stood up to it, how could they ignore it?
If a child can not only recognize that hate speech is wrong, but stand
up for it, where are we going wrong as adults? Think for yourselves, especially if you're thinking is wrong.
References from this post: (which are very much worth checking out)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/27/ishema-kane_n_2554165.html
http://changefromwithin.org/
I totally agree that hate is learned! What upsets me the most is to hear adults "joking" about racial comments in front of their children....they are teaching them to be racist.
ReplyDeleteI remember one time in Philly, I was walking down a side street on my way from Market East to where I worked. A black man was walking toward me, with earbuds in and a hoodie on his head. I wasn't in a dark alley, and I wasn't even in an unsafe situation, but I was scared. Just like you mentioned above, it was almost instinctual when I crossed the street to pass him from a "safe distance". I felt ashamed, but relieved at the same time. Its something I think about often and try my best to keep myself from that figurative "safe distance" since that day.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe I ever had thoughts like that as an adult, but I will say, I felt that way when I was a younger. It is ashame that most people do have these sorts of reactions, but it is something that we need to work on as a whole.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog! I recently told someone that I don't and won't ever use the N word. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. I think I got my point across, because there was an "apology"! And I wasn't going for an apology...I simply felt like I wanted to say how I felt about it. Hopefully, my feelings about this, and the fact that I communicated this helped this person to think about it a litte...I can only hope.
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing how you make preconceived assumptions based on race. I remember having to battle that all the time reading gas meters for PECO. Heck, most of the African Americans I met in Coatesville and Chester were the nicest people I could ever hope to meet. While, a lot of the white people on the main line were the biggest assholes I've ever dealt with. You can never tell by race or creed, it's just best to assume everyone is a massive jerk and live in a castle surrounded by animals.
ReplyDeleteOn a more serious note, Harvard does a lot of research on subconscious preference and bias. https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/
Basically they've determined that no matter what people will always have some level of ingrained bias at a subconscious level. And there are fun little tests you can take to see your own bias levels.
It is true that the key is teaching the next generation what is ok and what is not. It's a slow process. My grandfather is horribly racist. I can see some of it in my father. I've done pretty well but once those ideas seat in the back of your mind it's a hard thing to shake. As older generations die off as the old guards of racist practice it's finally allowed to filter out of the system. It's just a slow dilution process.
I had same experience getting into an elevator with a man the other day as I shared in class, and also hated myself for that feeling, which I then pondered all afternoon as well. This class really does make us think and ponder the ways that this stuff crops up, and hopefully will help all of us open our hearts and minds to the differences to everyone around us. PS. Just being in a laundromat alone in the middle of the night, I bet ANY man would have made you think twice...
ReplyDelete