When I was in my late teens, there was a corner store that my cousins and
I went to. We were not the rowdy type of teens, we were taught to always be
respectful and conduct ourselves as though our parents have eyes everywhere.
When we walked into the store the Asian man behind the counter yelled and told
us to hurry up and buy. We looked around to see if he could possibly be talking
to anyone else but it was only us who were in the store at the time. We decided
to ignore his comment/demand and continued to look through the store for junk
food. The man was eyeing us very hard. He told us to hurry up or get out of his
store and we better not steal because he is watching us and he will call the
cops if we give him any trouble. At that moment my oldest cousin was getting
angry because we did not deserve the way we were being treated. We never cause
trouble but we get treated as if we steal and/or do worse. I told my cousin to
lets not spend our money here and leave, but before we could my
cousin being the outspoken person she is told the man that because we are Black
does not mean we will steal or destroy and she said it again in Chinese which
shocked the man. He looked confused and we left the store.
Making the assumption that everyone that is Black does wrong is wrong. I
do not like to be judged by the color of my skin and I think it is unjust to
treat anyone the way they do not want to be treated. As far as my feelings were
concerned, I was bothered by what was said and how we were treated. I started thinking
about my mom, dad, and grandparents and knowing they may have been treated
worse when they were my age. Sometimes incidents like that make you a
stronger person.
For an incident like the one I experienced to change, the Asian man does
not need to make assumptions based on skin complexion. If he wasn’t quick to
pre-judge us he would have gotten our service. It makes me wonder how he has
treated others that have come before and after us.
Tiffany, I liked reading your post and can relate to what you experienced, having experienced it myself. I like the comment that your cousin said about “Making the assumption that everyone that is Black does wrong is wrong.” your cousin is so right about that!
ReplyDeleteAlso the comment “sometimes incidents like that make you a stronger person,” but the sad part about it is that sometimes it can make a person bitter as well.
References
Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).
Tiffany, we learned in this course that most prejudices and biases are taught and learned. How unfortunate your experience was. Most persons just judge and stereotype you because of how you look and where you are from. I agree that we must use experiences like these to make us stronger and also to prove persons wrong. I don't believe in rendering evil for evil but it only makes the situation worse. We can overcome these situations when we decide to do the right thing and not conform to people who are ignorant.
ReplyDeleteTiffany, I wish I could say this is the first I've ever heard of this. But it's all to common of an occurrence within our African American communities. And I have had that same experience at the neighborhood "corner store." Most times you want to boycott the store but you can't because it the only available resource in your neighborhood, so you have to keep spending your hard earned money at a place who has no regard or respect for you.
ReplyDeleteHi Tiffany,
ReplyDeleteI hate to hear of this but it is a sad reoccurrence that happens everyday to many types of individuals. Usually it is sparked by an innocent someone had with a particular race or it is someone's bias opinion. Either way these assumptions hurt everyone involved and no good has ever come from it. Instead like you said it can only make you stronger as long as you yourself do not create a bias opinion about the individual who caused you harm. That where we have to be different and instead help others see the harm they are causing. Thanks for sharing.
Crystal