When thinking about an act of discrimination, I know that I have been guilty of it. My room ate, Levi, is from Orlando. He has had very different life experiences than me, and I have learned a lot from him. I have never been a raging bigot, but I have come to see the importance of culture within different groups. For Levi, he grew up with many Hispanic friends and that has become a part of who he is. That means he sits in his room, cranks up the salsa music, and yells Spanish gibberish over the top. But there are times when I have crossed the line with him. There are times when I feel I'm joking around about black people or Hispanic people, but he comes from the background where that sort of talk doesn't fly.
I have my worst racial outbursts when I am driving. I think in general, I use my time driving as a time to vent and yell, but I digress. I was driving, on my way home, when three black kids walked out into the street with complete disregard for me. They then proceeded to stand in the road with some 'no big deal' facial expressions. So rolled down the window and yelled some choice words before they got the hell out of the road. But the worst part is I began to think that is just like a group of black kids. They don't give a damn and I hate them. I realized that what I was pissed about was turning into a racial rant. It shouldn't have mattered that they were black but I still made issue of it.
It has be a learning experience coming from my small middle America school, with only white students. I never hated anyone but I have grown to see that I was compromising. I think it is fine to point out stereotypes in the right setting, but not to allow those to become a reality in your thoughts and actions. I love Dave Chappelle for that very reason. He makes fun of every racial or ethnic group, but does it in a manner that doesn't cause a hatred. And maybe I'm wrong, and no one should ever point out stereotypes. That all people should be held to the same standard and accountability.
I have had similar encounters on the road or in shopping centers. I find myself grouping the people as a whole and not as individual assholes. Wheather white, black, latino, or Martian, I just don't like stupid people. Your tendancy to group people this way comes from early childhood development, and human nature. We tend to be drawn to things that we relate to, especially when it comes to appearance. In school, in a big or little cities, we find a group of friends who have commen interests. Those who don't fit in the group get looked at differently, but out of ignorance to their set of interests or identites.
ReplyDeleteI feel if more people would just be more open to EVREY aspect of life, we could get along better.