On my break from New York city, in a suburb of Minneapolis, Minnesota, I was on my bicycle going uphill on an empty sidewalk which doubled for a bike lane. The manicured green and the gray and beige of prefab houses surrounded me, as I enjoyed the fresh breeze against my chest giving me a work out.
A loud honk from a car behind me broke my mood violently. The next moment, I saw a young white boy with a boorish face sticking out of the front window of his car up to his waist glaringly showing me the finger. Before I could respond the car was out of sight over the hill leaving me to wonder what this unprovoked action was all about.
In the early 90's I had experienced my fair share of racism as a foreign graduate student at Bowling Green, Ohio. So my only conclusion, here I was again in the mid-west and here was another one to add to my list.
While this incident could have been a random biased prank by an ignorant teenager or a frat boy, being on the receiving end, I could not take it any other way. And there in lies the problem.
Racism is like pornography. You know it when you see it.
Racism in all its forms is a global phenomenon, a product of man's tribal nature. In America we have been trying to move beyond it since the civil rights movement brought about desegregation. The laws have brought us a long way forward, but as a people we still have miles to go.
Most people I passed by in Minneapolis smiled or said hello and were generally courteous. But this one incident left a deep scar. While many in this country put up a front of not being racist as that is what is expected of a law abiding civil society, what lies beneath and how it manifests itself is any ones guess.
Every now and then racism and ignorance surface in the form of patronizing behavior or as in this case just plain insensitive stupidity.
In this stolen nation of ours there is no singular creed or breed that owns anything. If power is to be measured by strength in numbers and economic prowess, so be it.
But what defines America's true nature is that anyone can lay claim to this land as long as you abide by the laws and respect your neighbor. That's what makes this place special and like no other on the planet. And so to feel superior by the color of ones skin or creed and have disdain for another, is nothing but folly.
With Obama's election there is at least a sense that we are living in a post racial America. And that is true for people who want to derive strength from it and celebrate the true essence of this land and its people. And for those who want to live in the past, there is no shortage of Limbaughs, Savages, O'Rileys and Hannity's to rally around.
When Obama used the word "stupid" in response to the policeman's action in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he found himself in a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation. The White House beer fest was effective damage control to calm the nerves of a nation that had been incessantly buzzing with debate over the incident.
But the true "teachable moment" coming out of all this I would hope would be that since the president had weighed in, the policemen around the country would respond in a more responsible way when dealing with people of "color" and hopefully the people on the receiving end would "cut the policemen some slack".
Given the way of the world and the people at the receiving end the latter would be harder to come by.
As for me, I am willing to accept ignorance but there is no place for intolerance, not here not anywhere.
It is what it is.
A loud honk from a car behind me broke my mood violently. The next moment, I saw a young white boy with a boorish face sticking out of the front window of his car up to his waist glaringly showing me the finger. Before I could respond the car was out of sight over the hill leaving me to wonder what this unprovoked action was all about.
In the early 90's I had experienced my fair share of racism as a foreign graduate student at Bowling Green, Ohio. So my only conclusion, here I was again in the mid-west and here was another one to add to my list.
While this incident could have been a random biased prank by an ignorant teenager or a frat boy, being on the receiving end, I could not take it any other way. And there in lies the problem.
Racism is like pornography. You know it when you see it.
Racism in all its forms is a global phenomenon, a product of man's tribal nature. In America we have been trying to move beyond it since the civil rights movement brought about desegregation. The laws have brought us a long way forward, but as a people we still have miles to go.
Most people I passed by in Minneapolis smiled or said hello and were generally courteous. But this one incident left a deep scar. While many in this country put up a front of not being racist as that is what is expected of a law abiding civil society, what lies beneath and how it manifests itself is any ones guess.
Every now and then racism and ignorance surface in the form of patronizing behavior or as in this case just plain insensitive stupidity.
In this stolen nation of ours there is no singular creed or breed that owns anything. If power is to be measured by strength in numbers and economic prowess, so be it.
But what defines America's true nature is that anyone can lay claim to this land as long as you abide by the laws and respect your neighbor. That's what makes this place special and like no other on the planet. And so to feel superior by the color of ones skin or creed and have disdain for another, is nothing but folly.
With Obama's election there is at least a sense that we are living in a post racial America. And that is true for people who want to derive strength from it and celebrate the true essence of this land and its people. And for those who want to live in the past, there is no shortage of Limbaughs, Savages, O'Rileys and Hannity's to rally around.
When Obama used the word "stupid" in response to the policeman's action in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he found himself in a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation. The White House beer fest was effective damage control to calm the nerves of a nation that had been incessantly buzzing with debate over the incident.
But the true "teachable moment" coming out of all this I would hope would be that since the president had weighed in, the policemen around the country would respond in a more responsible way when dealing with people of "color" and hopefully the people on the receiving end would "cut the policemen some slack".
Given the way of the world and the people at the receiving end the latter would be harder to come by.
As for me, I am willing to accept ignorance but there is no place for intolerance, not here not anywhere.
It is what it is.
It is sad how little people really focus on the issue. It's as if the presidents reaction has become simple fodder for those keeping a scorecard of Obamas survival and longevity prospects. Thank you for posting this because it personalizes what we all know is true. Tribal instincts for superiority and fear of the other are very much with us. And we're essentially the same biologically as we were 50 thousand years ago. Only constructive dialogue and te culivation if empathy will change us in time.
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