Racism

There are very few things that will get me as upset as quickly as racism. I went to the library today with my younger sister to return some books and pick up a movie. As we were waiting for one of the librarians to find the movie in the back we chatted with the other two members of staff working at the circulation desk. One of them was white skinned and the other dark. Ok, so truth be told we were actually talking with the darker staff member because he had just come back from South America and was wearing a pretty awesome embroidered shirt he had bought there. The third librarian was helping an older man when a middle-aged woman approached her with a stack of books. Immediately the guy behind the desk offered to check her out on his computer. Without looking at him, and with her back completely turned the woman replied "No, she's got it." I immediately looked at the young man and saw reflected in his face the same shocked expression I knew was visible in mine. He smiled and shrugged his shoulders, but I could barely continue the conversation because I was fuming inside. She had made no direct comment; there was nothing blatant that I could use to call her out, but the message was obvious. Subtle but direct. Unbelievable. We call ourselves United and we tolerate that in our neighborhoos, libraries, schools, and workplaces. Two years ago I witnessed something very similar in a gas station in middle of nowhere, small town Oklahoma with a friend of mine whose parents happened to be from India. He was from a big city in the Midwest and had absolutely no clue what was happening. For a split second I could understand why Blacks have in the past said that they just knew to get out of town..."sun-down cities." As an American I am embarressed to be forced to acknowledge that racism still exists in this country. The question is...how do you solve the problem?

I was talking to my cousin about this very issue last week. There are a lot of programs in schools, and the errors of racial discrimation are heavily preached in classrooms. But are they doing any good? Or are they instead deepening the cycle by raising awarenss in the minds of children who would otherwise be too innocent to compare their friends based on skin color? In most cases adults are the ones who place that issue in their heads, who introduce the color filter which then casts a haze over their relationships with others. Many people are surprised when I reveal that I am Latino. (I cannot count the number of times people have started to make comments about "those stupid Mexicans only to stammer "oh, but I don't mean like you" when I remind them that I am Mexican.) Sure, I may not have the brown skin that most people associate with Hispanics, but perhaps that is part of the reason that I insist on it. Skin color should not be a determining factor in anything, let alone personality or character traits.