With the election of the first Black President, we are now said to be in a post racial environment, an environment where race is no longer a restrictive factor and that the playing field is at last level. Yet with the recent tragedy of Trayvon Martin it still seems like this country still has quite an issue with this silly little thing which is supposedly now non-existant. Race and racism still happen to be a pervasive, yet substantial issues that nag at all of us, even those who choose to ignore it.
Let me tell you a little story about my most recent run in with the 'imaginary' monster...
This weekend I was in DC and went to a sushi bar. Mediocre sushi, below mediocre/slightly horrible service. The check comes and it's time to pay. I look at my bill and access the damage, and notice there's no gratuity added. So I'm trying to figure out how much to tip. On the one had, I know it's etiquette to tip the service and it's rude not to. Plus I had it. On the other hand, should I have to tip bad service? Plus it's not like I'll ever eat here again, I can just pay for my food and bounce. But then I had to remember that most people base their opinion on black people, particularly black men, off of stereotypes and individual dealings. Maybe she was not tipped by previous black customers and now had negative connotations about them. Maybe she gave me bad service on purpose. If I don't tip her will I continue to feed into her twisted perception and continue her cycle of poor service to peopel who look like me? Will other people of color have there dignity and integrity questioned before they even place their order? Or is it even that serious? Isn't it possible I'm just thinking WAY too much about this? Isn't it logical that she is merely having a bad day? Or that she was just a terrible waitress?
The problem is that there's no way to know absolutely for sure.The real problem is that in this country we still can't have honest discussions about race and the effects it has on peoples lives, from the most essential down to the most insignificant. Sadly, most people are not having authentic, balanced interactions with people of color, that's why we rely on stereotypes so much. Maybe it was possible I blew the incident out of proportion. Yet it's not irrational to think that people will base their entire perception of a whole race on their interaction with a single individual. It happens in classrooms everyday when the teacher brings up an issue of race and everyone looks at the black kids for their reaction. And if that's something you care about that can be a very aggravating, exhausting burden to bare, especially for something as trivial as eating out.
Shout out to Barack though. Peace
