It was not the first time it's happened to me, but each instance, rare though it may be, is an awakening.I was dealing with a merchant recently and a conversation started with one of the employees.
An insurance check had been blocked by a Federal agency that determined the check had been altered or damaged.
Then it came.The white employee had called to ask why the check had been blocked, but was reluctant to complain because the person on the phone was--(whispered, with a glance around to make sure we were alone)---black.
The employee then told me---seriously--- that "Obama" probably had a hand in it himself.
I suggested the president might be a tad busy being leader of the free world to be involved in a check for a few thousand dollars. The employee grudgingly agreed, but said if the check had been for a million dollars, Obama would have been all over it.
Then there were other comments too, against Muslims and other people of color, all softly racist but just as ugly as a Klan Rally shout. The name Obama was spit out like a curse.
What always amazes me is the fact that some people are comfortable treating me, a stranger, as a racial compatriot.
Is the fact that I'm white all that's needed for me to somehow be considered a kindred racist in Alabama in 2012, half a century after people bled and died in the name of Civil Rights?
Tim: Well said! We (the collective Alabama citizens) have a long way to go.
ReplyDeleteThank you for saying this out loud, Tim. Yes, I have had similar experiences - those side glances to make sure that we white people are alone to speak freely. I was so thrilled watching the inauguration of our president and the huge celebratory crowds gathered on the Capitol Mall. I had no idea what a tide of racist backlash that event would unleash.
ReplyDeleteThe same thing has happened to me. I used to do business at a local service station. Then one day the owner just started spewing this openly, vile racist garbage about black people, Hispanic people and all non-whites. He always had Fox News blaring and would make hateful comments even when the people he was commenting on were in the store spending their money. I stopped going in there unless I was an emergency. I've stopped even those trips to his store after he bragged that he sold a black guy a lemon car and remarked that the only good thing about a black person having money is that by sundown it will be in a white mans hands. Plus, he called my boss, who is a fantastic person who immigrated here from Pakistan a nasty name.
ReplyDeleteI notice that his large service station rarely has customers and think that he will soon close. Would serve him right. Our store, on the other hand, is owned by a Pakistani Muslim and is packed from open to close. All the people who come in our store love the owner and say they also refuse to do business wit the other guy because of his hatefulness. And we live in the deep country where you would expect the locals to share the hateful views and not shop at our store. But every day the reddest of red come in and carry on with him, ask after him if he isn't there and little old ladies constantly bring him home baked goodies.
I've wondered many times what, if anything, I ever did to make the hateful guy think I share his views. I've not been able to come up with anything. I'm left assuming that he thinks because I'm white I share his views.