Black In White America
[Editor's note: Today, we welcome Jo Ann Bowman to our cast of contributors. Jo Ann is a former state representative and is now the executive director for Oregon Action. Welcome to BlueOregon, Jo Ann!]
I had to travel to Seattle this weekend and this is how it went.
-took a cab from Lloyd Center to the train station; it cost $7 but it should have cost me less than $5, when challenged said she was trying to avoid construction. I live next door to the steel bridge, no construction.
-as i approach the ticket counter at the train station the clerk announced, "This line is only for business class", as if I had lost my ability to read before approaching him and couldn't possibly be in the right line.
-as I placed my carry on bags on top of my assign seat, I noticed the horrified look from a middle-aged white business man when he saw me approach, To my horror I was assigned to the seat next to him but choose a seat just in front of him instead, his audible sigh of relief convinced me I had made the right choice.
-waited patiently in line at my "Three Star" hotel while the desk clerk provided detail information on places to eat, sights to see and other amenities available for travelers; when it was my turn, she tossed the key and when I asked about a map she threw that across the counter as well, with no additional information.
-bought a take out dinner at a nice waterfront restaurant, got my food back to the hotel and it was too burnt to eat.
Many of my friends will read the above and chalk it up to just poor service. That was not the problem. In each case there was a white person seeking the same service. In each case the outcome was different. In each case the white american got what was expected from their money. Imagine this experience 100's of times a day.
Sometimes you react, sometimes not.
Just another day of being Black in White America
|
May 31, 2008 |
Jo Ann Bowman | Comments (85 so far)
| Share on Facebook |
Sponsored Advertising
Comments
Posted by: Jenni Simonis | May 31, 2008 9:38:55 PM
Yes, it's too bad this kind of stuff still happens.
We've gotten the same thing on multiple occasions - I'm white and my husband is Asian. On a few occasions I was getting good service, but then my husband and daughter would come straggling along (they hate waiting in lines and will often go walk around outside or whatever). Suddenly things go from fine to frosty.
Posted by: j_luthergoober | May 31, 2008 9:42:23 PM
... or being a Latino, Arabian, poor, Muslim, olive-skinned, long-haired, Jewish, marijuana user, ex-convict, smoker, homosexual, liberal, vegetarian, Persian, atheist, French...
Posted by: Steven Maurer | May 31, 2008 10:00:34 PM
Service, in my estimation, will be like this for quite some time. Why? Simple. All those "hard working white Americans" as Hillary Clinton puts it. Not all, by any means, but many disproportionately stupid, uneducated, racists. Why else do you think they're stuck in such low end jobs?
You want nice treatment? Go to a silicon valley company valley company, like mine.
It sucks, obviously. But just remember, Jo Ann, they're not worth it.
Posted by: Karol | May 31, 2008 10:18:49 PM
Welcome, Jo Ann!
This past Thursday I was at a community meeting. I saw a gentleman that I had seen at least 5 times in the past and spoken to on the phone twice. He asked me if I was the librarian at the North Portland library. A lovely woman, but 25 years older than me, six inches taller, long braids and did I mention 25 years older? I just smiled and another librarian said, "don't you love those days when you just have to swallow it and smile?" PS: we are both black.
Cheers!
Posted by: Becky Gladstone | May 31, 2008 10:20:45 PM
Jo Ann,
I've seen it too, no denying it. I'm sorry to hear it, again, and again. Whenever I can, I vote with my wallet, and say so. Some places just don't need my money! I wish when traveling alone, my treatment would be the same as suited white guys'. Let's keep working on it. And nice tips - the shock effect is fun and the staff deserve it, hotel room staff too.
Becky G
Posted by: ws | May 31, 2008 11:37:58 PM
Jo Ann, when you react to the kind of people met in the examples you mention, how do they respond? Do you find that your usual manner of responding in those situations gets them to understand and have second thoughts about having responded the way they did?
I don't doubt the truth of the examples you cite. Many people enjoy being petty and malicious, especially when there is considerable public acceptance involved in doing so when directed towards certain targets. It would be hard to dispute the idea that blacks in the U.S. are one of the easier targets for that sort of thing.
As previous commenter's have noted, other types of people get something on the order of this kind of treatment too, for their own distinguishing characteristics. In my own experience, learning how to read these people and skillfully respond to them in an effective way seems to be the best. I've been woefully bad at that myself, and have gotten run over and over repeatedly because of that. I hope I'm starting to some kind of grip on it.
Good luck, and hope your future sees a lessening of the incidents you describe.
Posted by: Fred Stewart | Jun 1, 2008 12:00:33 AM
Crap like this rarely happens to me. When it does, I usually ignore it and move on.
Posted by: Bob Tiernan | Jun 1, 2008 2:29:33 AM
Jo Ann Bowman:
took a cab from Lloyd Center to the train station; it cost $7 but it should have cost me less than $5
Bob T:
Isn't $7.00 the minimum by law (taxi cartel created and protected by government)? Anyway, better deals could be available if we re-allowed individual, owner-operator taxi services (jitneys, so to speak) not chained down by the stupid minimum requirements that exist under the guise of "protecting the consumer".
Detroit has them (they are illegal but tolerated, but should be legalized so that insurance and other issues can be dealt with). For those who will claim that if we allow this we'll see taxi drivers raping passengers all day long, quit drinking the Kool-Aid.
Bob Tiernan
Posted by: Tom in L.A. | Jun 1, 2008 5:28:17 AM
Yes, Jo Ann, and when I tell people my last name, which is Italian, people of all backgrounds often say to me, "Who do you know in the Mafia?" And when I say that I write movies for adults, people of all backgrounds often say to me, "Oh, you mean porno?" And when I say that I'm originally from New York City, people of all backgrounds often say to me, "So you must be, like, really rude, right?" And when I say on this very website that I live in L.A., one person leaves a seven-word post concluding that this is why I'm "hip and clueless." So there are apparently a lot of shallow, not terribly bright, or at the very least extremely presumptuous people out there and they come in all colors, shapes, and sizes. Who do you think you're kidding by pretending it only happens to you because of the color of your skin?
Posted by: Bill Bodden | Jun 1, 2008 8:56:43 AM
And, to some extent politicians seeking votes in November will feel obliged to pander to these racists and bigots just as they do with the Likud and Kadima party supporters. We might climb another rung in the ladder in November, but the promised land is still a long way off - just like peace in Iraq.
Posted by: Kristin | Jun 1, 2008 9:12:16 AM
I usually find the whole hierarchy of oppression thing to be a waste of time, but the idea that stereotypes about folks living in LA or misunderstandings about the types of movies being written is at all analogous to the historical, violent and deeply embedded pattern of racism makes me, to say the least, cringe tremendously.
Welcome to BlueOregon, Jo Ann. I have long appreciated your leadership role in county administration, the Coalition for a Livable Future and Oregon Action, and very much look forward to more of your posts. I'm happy your voice is getting heard.
Posted by: joel dan walls | Jun 1, 2008 9:22:23 AM
Bodden: And, to some extent politicians seeking votes in November will feel obliged to pander to these racists and bigots just as they do with the Likud and Kadima party supporters.
Mr. Bodden uses some nice coded language of his own (referring to two of the many Israeli political parties)to allude to the so-called Jewish vote. Good job. nice example, Mr. Bodden.
As for the original posting by Ms. Bowman, thank you thank you. It helps to be reminded of this sort of obnoxious stuff.
I had several experiences similar to Ms. Bowman's train-seating experience in Japan, except there it involved the Japanese seat neighbors getting up and moving. Friends of mine who have lived and travelled in Japan have had comparable experiences. We're all Caucasians. Racist reactions seem to be, sadly, distributed across many cultures. But practically speaking, there's absolutely nothing I can do about the situation in Japan, while I can do something about the situation in the US. Examining my own silly prejudices is where I try to start.
Posted by: Pat Malach | Jun 1, 2008 10:33:23 AM
Former state Rep. JoAnn Bowman (D-Portland) says going to see a mixed-race candidate “is an easy way for so-called progressives to feel like they are doing something positive.”Bowman, who’s undecided but leaning toward Edwards, says blacks are by no means united behind Obama, who mostly draws “suburban white folks.” --Willlamette Week
I'm gonna get me a shotgun and kill all the whities I see,
I'm gonna get me a shotgun and kill all the whities I see.
When I kill all the whities I see, then whitey he won't bother me,
I'm gonna get me a shotgun and kill all the whities I see.
Posted by: Kari Chisholm | Jun 1, 2008 10:59:06 AM
I have no idea what point Pat is trying to make, but - for everyone else - it's a Saturday Night Live reference from the 1970s.
Posted by: Buckman Res | Jun 1, 2008 11:18:33 AM
Ms. Bowman has so fully embraced victimhood the even bad take-out becomes evidence of racism directed her way. For someone hell-bent on finding bigotry in even in the most innocent of daily interactions they will undoubtedly find it.
Unfortunately there is always a willing audience to hear these views and lend them credibility.
Posted by: Kristin | Jun 1, 2008 11:40:13 AM
Buckman Res,
Just a reminder about the last paragraph...
"In each case there was a white person seeking the same service. In each case the outcome was different. In each case the white american got what was expected from their money. Imagine this experience 100's of times a day."
Posted by: Kurt Chapman | Jun 1, 2008 11:48:38 AM
Ms Bowman, I am sorry for your unfortunate set of circumstances. However, I fail to see where these events as described could only be due to racism.
Posted by: MCT | Jun 1, 2008 11:53:24 AM
JoAnn, I am so sorry you've had to suffer these insults. And I cannot imagine what it must be like to live it every day, though I have often tried. Of course as a woman I have experienced biases and sexual harrassment, and as an immigrant child in southerm IL, we were subjected to the sting of xenophobia. They wanted to put me in a speech impediment class to cure my British accent. And now as I near the age of 57, there is a new prejudice that sort of snuck up on me. The one that comes with age, where one becomes invisible to younger sections of the population. (Looking back I see that I was guilty of this denegration in my youth, to a degree.) And of course there is the growing trend to judge people by their visible economic standing....beware the person in shabby clothes driving the beat up car.
Is it human nature to vilify genetic and/or social differences and use them as reasons to ostrasize and insult? Do we see this behavior in the animal kingdom? Can we possibly survive as a species in a crowded world if we cannot use our superior brain power to overcome our prejudices? How can we celebrate diversity if we cannot achieve tolerance and respect?
The answers to these questions are the root of our future.
Good post JoAnn....we need your voice here.
Posted by: Pete Forsyth | Jun 1, 2008 12:00:29 PM
Ms. Bowman, I'm also sorry to hear about this. I'm not sure I see you accusing the individuals of racism, but I can see how the pattern would be infuriating for you. Thanks for sharing your experience, and hopefully we can all help our society make some progress around this kind of stuff. And quickly.
Posted by: AZ | Jun 1, 2008 12:01:44 PM
Racism still exists? Even here in Oregon? I'm shocked!!
People reacting to other people according to sterotypes? In 2008? I'm dumbfounded.
We can even find racism alive and well here among the comments on Blue Oregon, if we look hard enough and try to provoke it out of people.
Of course racism exists and people judge and act according to stereotypes. So what are we going to do about it?
Why can't we all just get along?
Maybe the first step is to try to get along. Be open to getting along, without any preconditions, or preconceived notions.
Thanks for your post Jo Ann, and welcome.
Posted by: MCT | Jun 1, 2008 12:04:46 PM
And I noticed a lot of folks here saying so what, I have experienced prejudice and rudeness. There should be no SO WHAT....none of it is okay. We CAN set ourselves higher standards in our dealings with our fellow humans.
Posted by: Kristin | Jun 1, 2008 12:19:42 PM
Hey -- I have an idea! Maybe we can get rid of racism by deriding the very real experiences of those who face it and insist that it must be THEIR problem, that they must just be making it up! If we don't listen to and confront the realities of it, it will probably go away!
La La La, I don't hear anything, la la la.
Is it gone yet?
Posted by: Chuck Butcher | Jun 1, 2008 12:50:15 PM
We probably need to be reminded of this, not on the basis of Jo Ann being black but on the basis of unthinking irresponsible reactions to something immaterial. I'm not sorry about it, I had nothing to do with it, I'm offended that it happens - regardless of what year it is or what race, etc is involved.
Let me ask this:
When people of color or whatever see me - white, heavily tanned, bearded construction worker, obvious rough case - do you assume about me? Do you figure 'here comes the biggotry?' Here comes ignorance? Well so many of 'that' kind are...
The point is that a lot more of us do this to each other than will admit it. Now I seldom get anything like the treatment Jo Ann mentions, but we need to look at ourselve regularly to see what we're about.
Posted by: Garrett | Jun 1, 2008 1:19:03 PM
Don't cabbies try to rip everyone off white or black? :)
Thanks for the post Jo Ann!
Posted by: joel dan walls | Jun 1, 2008 1:48:22 PM
One of the stupid remarks I made to someone in recent memory, and in retrospect obviously based on a stereotype, was this: Chatting for the first time with a male Chinese immigrant, mid-30s in age, lives in Beaverton, the subject turned to occupation, and I said something along the lines of "oh, you must be an engineer in high-tech somewhere." Nope....And afterwards I felt like a complete idiot. We all do this sort of stuff. The point is not playing a blame game or debating who is more oppressed than whom, but recognizing what we've done and trying not to repeat our mistakes.
Posted by: mrfearless47 | Jun 1, 2008 2:36:12 PM
Great post JoAnn. We of the white persuasion need to be reminded that the service some of us take for granted is not available to all in this country, or in other countries with a large non-white populace.
I used to have this kind of treatment as a youngster growing up Jewish in an all Italian neighborhood. I kept wondering where my horns and tail were as the Italian merchants kept telling me they wouldn't serve me because I was a "jew boy" and a "Christ killer".
Not quite the same as your experiences in a more diverse world, but I have some small sense of how you must feel.
Best to Skip.
Posted by: Oregonian37 | Jun 1, 2008 2:52:13 PM
I look forward to watching Miss Bowman shake folks out of their comfort zones. This is an excellent start.
No matter whether someone agrees or disagrees with this post, there are very few people who won't find themselves paying closer attention next time they are in line, or in any sort of customer service scenario. Learning about someone else's experiences always makes us more aware of our own.
No matter what my own experiences have been, I absolutely know that it is not my right to deny what someone else's experiences have been. I have no doubt that Jo Ann has experienced all of the things she writes about, and that yes a great deal of it has to do with biases. I've witnessed it enough (and not as the target) to believe it. I've seen store clerks prepare to serve me before a person of color, although that person was very much ahead of me in line. I've had bus drivers give me longer times on transfers than on the woman of color in front of me. I've seen passengers on the bus move seats in order to avoid sitting with someone of color, by moving to sit with someone else, including me. As Jo Ann shares, sometimes I react and sometimes I don't. On their own, or before I set out to be more aware of my world, none of these things would neccessarily have stick out. But again, as Jo Ann mentions, having them happen over and over, day in and day out, is an entirely different experience.
Posted by: Matthew Sutton | Jun 1, 2008 3:05:34 PM
I would not be surprised if one or more of the cited incidents were racially motivated. The attitude of the businessman on the train seems particularly suspect. That is sad and unfortunate.
I would also throw out there that my wife and I, two white folks, find ourselves frequently discussing how bad service is virtually everywhere we go. Good service seems to be the exception these days. By adding this, I do not intend to dismiss Jo Ann's experience, but it is definitely a factor out there.
Posted by: Bridget | Jun 1, 2008 3:54:39 PM
I think we all do this to each other, making assumptions about people, based on experience.
And I'm sorry that this happens.
I don't like it when people don't recognize my humanity and I'm a middle-class white chick.
And I'm not sure what to do about it, other than to recognize my own behavior, and help others with theirs.
It would wear me down to experience racism on top of bad service.
At the same time, when we expect folks to treat us badly, they do. So, how do we do this? How do we expect folks to treat us right, get let down, and expect it again?
Posted by: Bridget | Jun 1, 2008 3:54:54 PM
I think we all do this to each other, making assumptions about people, based on experience.
And I'm sorry that this happens.
I don't like it when people don't recognize my humanity and I'm a middle-class white chick.
And I'm not sure what to do about it, other than to recognize my own behavior, and help others with theirs.
It would wear me down to experience racism on top of bad service.
At the same time, when we expect folks to treat us badly, they do. So, how do we do this? How do we expect folks to treat us right, get let down, and expect it again?
Posted by: randel | Jun 1, 2008 5:01:15 PM
Just be thankful you aren't a white person in Black America. A black person can walk thru Lake Oswego and maybe just get some bad customer service. A white person walking thru Compton would be killed.
Posted by: Steve Maurer | Jun 1, 2008 5:16:35 PM
randel: A white person walking thru Compton would be killed.
More likely, asked if he was looking for a score - which is the reason why a lot of white people go to Compton. The vast majority of ghetto violence isn't directed against the customers, it's "black on black": rival gangs fighting over the territory needed to sell to white drug addict customers.
That's the plain truth, randel. It's also true that you're racist, but maybe you can change that.
Posted by: Robert | Jun 1, 2008 5:27:34 PM
Some of those incidents sound terrible, and I am truly sorry that you encountered such ignorance.
However, I apologize, but your dinner was burned? If this is an example of the "100s of times a day" you experience racism, then I'm afraid you're looking too hard.
Further, even if you lead a very active life, "100s of times a day" would still amount to almost every single social interaction of your day. I frankly have a difficult time believing that.
Posted by: Mike | Jun 1, 2008 7:04:04 PM
I live in Japan and, as a previous commenter noted, it's quite common for Japanese people to not sit next to non-Japanese on trains, etc.
I'm not sure if it's racism - I think they are often afraid they'll be forced to speak to the non-Japanese person in poor English.
Saying that though, there are a lot of areas where foreigners in Japan are discriminated against. Housing is the most obvious one (it's not uncommon to see real estate ads proclaiming 'foreigners OK').
Regarding Oregonians, it's conceivable (to me, anyway) that many of them may not be sure how to react because Oregon was - and still is - a very white state. Having grown up in Oregon, I can attest to my own awkwardness in the past. I like to think I have finally moved beyond it. being on the receiving end of it certainly gives one a sense of perspective, that's for sure.
Anyway, I look forward to hearing more about your work at Oregon Action.
Posted by: John Skelter | Jun 1, 2008 8:41:40 PM
Mrs Bowman - Part of the unity and healing Obama brings to the table includes Reparations, which is also supported by many other Black leaders. The healing begins with payment for transgressions and wounds inflicted and not fully healed. There are many blacks struggling in American right now and we are kept being told "The Check is in the Mail."
Well we're tied of waiting.
Posted by: Doug in PDX | Jun 2, 2008 12:44:00 AM
My oldest adopted son is Black. My wife and I are white. We adopted and to make a long story short, it was a package deal! Ended up with a mixed race family, and the learning began.
My wife got comments in the grocery store, "My, you are not very selective are you?". You should have seen how that went! I'm quite sure the other woman was less than pleased with the result, let's just keep it there and call it good.
Our kids have each had problems in school over race issues. Of course, being one family, we don't see color in the same way many do and it shows! I back them each time, sometimes wondering if our school administrators don't need a lesson or two in this department, when I see them just try to marginalize all parties so as to keep themselves clean in the conflict.
(I know they know the right thing, but lack the strength to actually act on it, without serious prodding.)
As my Black son grew older, I spent time exploring this, "You don't know what it means to be Black!" comment I got from him, fairly often. Well, I don't really, but I can say I know a lot more now than I did back then.
What I have learned bothers me deeply. Like your post bothers me deeply.
I've learned that many people, who say "African American" really don't know anybody that is Black and that if they did, they would understand how annoying that phrase is! What, are they White American then?
(For a good laugh, try that sometime. It's fun!)
I've learned that Black people share a sense of shared identity. IMHO, this is good and bad. The good is that they are not alone in this fight against ignorant, bigoted and racist Americans. The bad is all the stuff they do sometimes to show their Blackness, like it's some sort of marginalized club that you feel better if you are in, but everything still sucks anyway.
(don't take that wrong. I'm talking about forced eubonics, sounding ignorant, acting ignorant and other such things and tying those to being Black, as if it matters somehow --it doesn't)
I've learned that sometimes rich White people like young Black athletes because they might perform better because of their diminished socio-economic status. White kids spend too much time playing video games, while Black kids can't afford that stuff and live in rough neighborhoods, which increases their drive and physical ability to play sports.
(yes, I heard this crap more than once!)
My son tells me many of his friends don't have parents at home. When I ask why, he says they can't afford to do that. He tells me that it's tough to do the right things, stand strong on drugs, not go hanging out on the streets, develop that chip on his shoulder, like the ones his friends have.
He tells me it's tough to act White, and still be cool with his Black friends. We still have not figured that one out, but we are trying. His friends sometimes call him a Wigger, because he's sharing more than the "pure" Black culture they are. I don't know what to do with that, other than to just try to understand and focus on building him up to be a solid, good person. Isn't that Black enough? I don't know.
Of course, I respond with can't we just be good Americans, trying to do the right things as much of the time as we are able? His answer, "yes, but you still don't understand what it means to be Black."
Like I said, still trying to figure that out.
I've learned that some Black people like being Black. Some like it because they are comfortable with who they are. Good on them. Many of us, no matter the race we are, never really get there. I think my Son is going to be one of these people. I need this to happen as much as he wants it to happen, so maybe we will get there!
I've learned that being Black carries with it a lot of social pressure and fear. I think this is true for a lot of people, but as far as I can tell, it's somewhat more focused for Black people --at least these are the things my son and I have seen and talked about and have experienced.
Fear and pressure slowly train us to fear who we are and reject that to become what others think we should be. It's a nasty box, and I think a lot of people try to put Black people into that box and they don't even know. This angers me and bothers me because it's subtle, making it a very, very difficult norm to correct.
I've learned that Black people can be strong! My son is strong and loyal to his family and friends. He often commands respect and demonstrates leadership. We both worked hard to nurture these things and it shows.
Of course, both his parents didn't work as many jobs as they could find to get through either.
When I grew up, there were almost no Black people. I've learned this makes it hard to relate at first. Often, people will talk different, or look different! Sometimes you can't easily discriminate among faces, for example.
These things build tension and from that fear and from that aversion and other nasty things. My family does not see these things, having grown up together in a diverse environment, it's all a non-issue.
Of course, this cuts both ways too. The divides are still largely there, causing the problems they always cause.
I've learned that it's perfectly ok for my Black son to spend the night at the rich white kids house to play ball, but not the reverse.
I've learned that people present one way, then show themselves another way, "when they are alone, among friends.".
I've learned that family is powerful. When my younger white son was two, he answered in response to a question about the differences between his hands and his older Black brothers hands: "They are bigger." Yeah, he's gonna be ok, for sure!
I've learned that the State of Oregon doesn't think a family like ours can make it properly. We had to fight for our right to form and grow. Black kids are better off in Black strangers houses, rather than in houses where their half-brothers and sisters live. Been a long time, but I still think about that and wonder.
I've learned that the police see Black people differently, no matter how much they say they don't. Walking while Black, Driving while Black, etc... This happens! I've seen it, and have had to figure out how to deal with my anger surrounding it. It shouldn't happen.
That's what I know. I'm an ordinary White guy, but I've seen and have experienced some stuff and maybe have seen enough to feel just a small bit of the frustration you feel far more often than you should.
I can tell you that there are plenty of people like me, who may not know it, grok it like you have to, but we try and we want it better, like you do. I also think there are more of us than those people who surrender to their fear, their unfamiliarity, their BIAS, and excuse it with whatever dogma seems to work for them. We don't speak up as often or as forcefully as we should and that's a problem. Maybe we fear we might just end up falling down somehow, somewhere, taking a risk we don't have to take.
I've learned that deep down, many of my peers feel this, don't understand this and will work to avoid this, like it rubs off or something.
Maybe Obama will make the grade! Perhaps that will help things, or maybe it will just shift things to another race, leaving them their problems until one of them proves themselves worthy of finally joining "everybody else".
God, I hope not, but I fear maybe... We do seem to learn one very hard step at a time, often forgetting when it's easy to do so.
My son will get to vote this year. It's his first vote ever, and he's extremely likely to be voting for the first Black President. When he was in grade school, we talked about "you can do anything you want to", and this came up! My daughters and older Black son said, "But not be President", and look where we are!
A Woman and Black man running, both of whom would make fine Presidents!
Maybe some of what you are feeling is perspective! We are considerably farther down the road today than we were long ago. Some places are better than others, of course, but where it's getting better, there is hope and from there we can find strength in our selves and from our families.
I've learned one other thing too. People are powerful and they are interesting. I hadn't really noticed until all this stuff came up in my rather ordinary White life. Man! When you start to ask, "Why?" some of the answers shake you to your core, leaving you wondering just what the word "progress" really means.
Have a great day tomorrow!
Posted by: Bob Tiernan | Jun 2, 2008 12:47:34 AM
Buckman Res:
Ms. Bowman has so fully embraced victimhood the even bad take-out becomes evidence of racism directed her way. For someone hell-bent on finding bigotry in even in the most innocent of daily interactions they will undoubtedly find it.
Kristin:
Just a reminder about the last paragraph...
"In each case there was a white person seeking the same service. In each case the outcome was different. In each
case the white american got what was expected from their money. Imagine this experience 100's of times a day."
Bob T:
But wait! since Ms. Bowman didn't know her food was
burnt ("got my food back to the hotel and it was
too burnt to eat".), how did she know that all of
the crackers who bought food from the same place didn't
get burnt food? Did she stick around for a while? Did
she know what hotels they were staying in so she could
call them and ask if their take-out was burnt, too?
Bob Tiernan
Posted by: Rulial | Jun 2, 2008 1:18:43 AM
I'm sad to see some here belittle Jo Ann Bowman's experience.
I'm really glad that, as a society, we've come to realize that racism is evil.
However, because (almost) everyone agrees racism is evil, (almost) everyone's afraid to admit they are racist. And most people are, at least to some extent. It's the result of growing up in a culture saturated with racism. Even if someone isn't consciously racist, and they've accepted intellectually that racism is unacceptable, it's still possible to be quite unconsciously racist. Stuck in a cycle of denial, many people never come to terms with their own racism, and remain unable to take the first step to actually solving the problem.
What's worse, because most people rarely experience racism and therefore don't really understand its full extent--and I include myself here--whenever someone points out that our society is still racist, many will refuse to listen and instead give you crap about how you're "embracing victimhood".
We all have a lot of work to do.
Posted by: Doug in PDX | Jun 2, 2008 1:27:03 AM
Perception is Reality.
You know, there is no harm in expressing some of these things. Are you threatened some how? Resent the temptation to feel something for another persons experiences?
Maybe it was just an unfortunate series of events. Happens to all of us. Wonder how many of us don't entertain thoughts like hers at those times?
I absolutely know I have, and I'm not Black either, but I am very close to people who are. Know what? For them it's real. It's real because way to many elements of our culture and society make it real, and that's just real enough.
The same thing happens to ugly people, fat people, old people, weak people and sick people. Discrimination is an ugly thing and sometimes when we need to talk about it, it feels like ugly things do. Ugly.
That's what this is.
Hearing some, "it's your problem" crap like your post was not the solution. Hearing, "Hey, I understand!" and "Maybe it will be better tomorrow?", or "How can I help?" are all things that can lead to solutions.
Let's get right to the end game huh?
You are saying then, she is playing this up. Playing it for what exactly? Take it out to the end for me, please. Let's hear where you think this is going.
Do you believe there isn't discrimination because you found some minor flaw with her post here? That's the out you need to deny any of it is happening and that anybody claiming otherwise has some personal issue to work on?
Maybe you do believe there is discrimination, but that this wasn't it. So what? Perhaps she feels it is, having felt it before.
Again, where is the end game in breaking people down?
If we all do it, we all then are broken and what then?
Thought so.
Posted by: Doug in PDX | Jun 2, 2008 1:44:19 AM
My post above directed at Bob, just to be clear.
Rulial:
"...because (almost) everyone agrees racism is evil, (almost) everyone's afraid to admit they are racist."
...
"We all have a lot of work to do."
Oh yeah big time. I totally remember figuring out that I was going to have to deal with race and culture issues. This goes right to the core of who we think we are -vs- who we really are, and that's scary stuff!
The bad news is coming to that level of self-awareness is not easy. Excuses abound, and acceptance slips away at every turn. Some of us won't get there.
The good news is that many of us will, and that's enough for progress. At least I think it is. Guess we shall see.
The other really great news is that after the first time though this cycle, dealing with other things becomes a lot easier. It's ok to understand something like this about yourself. From there you can fix it.
It's not ok to avoid this, nor is it ok to reach that understanding and then rationalize it. That's a lie --the worst kind of lie, a lie to yourself. Do these often enough and you become something else, something that's not really healthy, something that's not really you.
For me, the real out was just knowing that it was an artifact of where I was and who I was with growing up. That meant I was not bad at all, I just got some bad advice!
Of course, that requires the belief that we are all, deep down, good people wanting to do good things. YMMV.
Posted by: Kristin | Jun 2, 2008 8:44:17 AM
Bob T:
But wait! since Ms. Bowman didn't know her food was
burnt ("got my food back to the hotel and it was
too burnt to eat".), how did she know that all of
the crackers who bought food from the same place didn't
get burnt food? Did she stick around for a while? Did
she know what hotels they were staying in so she could
call them and ask if their take-out was burnt, too?
Bob Tiernan
So, when a person describes an over-all experience of racism, instead of listening and learning, respecting the person's impressions, we should approach it from a lawyerly place, demanding proof -- perhaps Ms. Bowman should provide you with a signed affadavit before you'll believe her? What does it matter to you that every last detail is proven to you...why can you not simply listen, respect, and learn?
Posted by: Larry McD | Jun 2, 2008 9:15:00 AM
I'm sorry. It was obviously a difficult day. I don't doubt that many of the reported incidents occurred exactly as described. As gay men in Paso Robles CA my partner and I got to enjoy any number of the same sorts of insults (including having a Raley's checker in turn her back on us to talk to the one in the adjacent line about the band she'd heard the night before while we and the people behind us waited. She only turned back around when I literally ordered her to).
I do, however, have a little trouble with the burnt food episode. The idea that the waiters in a "nice waterfront restaurant" would join in a conspiracy with the kitchen staff to burn the food of an African-American woman who wasn't even going to be sitting in their dining room is beyond my understanding. This despite that fact that I've been handed bagged food– in a ribs takeout place in a neighborhood in DC that white people rarely went to– that were so crusted in salt that no amount of scraping could salvage it. It could have been because I was obviously in the military in the late '60s but I kinda doubt it.
Posted by: GreenFloyd | Jun 2, 2008 9:19:12 AM
Hello everyone, first time poster, longtime Portland resident here. I have been primarily active on taxing and regulating cannabis and ending the so-called “war on drugs.” I have been reading BlueOregon for a couple years and always learn something new about local politics and views when I do. Thank you…
After reading Jo Ann Bowman’s account and these comments, I am surprised no one has made what I think is a crucial distinction. Namely, I mean the difference between these offensive, albeit isolated, events and the more harmful and widespread institutional racism most evident in our state and national legal systems, i.e. the Prison Industrial Complex.
It seems to me there’s little anybody can do about another individual’s racism. Some people will defend their ignorance to the death. However, there is a lot we can do to reform our laws, social, and political priorities. That is, if we are really serious about fixing this obvious racial and economic divide between white and black, the haves and have-nots. To be honest, I don’t think most of us are really that serious about it. Please prove me wrong.
I have been accused of wanting to create a community based on peace and love. I plead guilty as charged.
Have a happy…
GreenFloyd
Posted by: mara | Jun 2, 2008 9:23:24 AM
Maya Wiley, from the Center for Social Inclusion, spoke last week at the Coalition for a Livable Future's Regional Livability Summit. For anyone who doesn't know her work or hasn't heard her speak, I highly recommend it.
Wiley's work focuses on addressing the structural barriers to racial equality. For example, we can work toward health care reform, and it's very important. But at part of that we need to address the lack of health care in Black and Latino neighborhoods. If we don't address access to health care, health care reform isn't going to do as much as we think it is for those communities.
In one of her talks, Wiley spoke about the need to discuss race and how we're talking about race even when we're not talking about it. She spoke of the Welfare Queen. No one said the welfare queen was Black, but the intent of using that frame was for everyone to picture a Black woman, scrubbing off the system. There's a story in today's Oregonian about a public housing complex at Humboldt Gardens. There was no reference to race, but race is in the story whether it's spoken or not.
One other thing. Talking about race is hard, at least for me. It was hard to write this post, only made easier by discussing Wiley's views rather than directly speaking to my own. I'm a white woman, and can't know the experience of people of color in this county, this state, this city. I need to learn to talk about it. Jo Ann Bowman isn't responsible for teaching me, and neither is Karol Collymore, another African American woman and Blue Oregon contributor who writes about race. But through their words and their actions in our community, they are teaching, and I'm grateful.
Posted by: darrelplant | Jun 2, 2008 9:32:42 AM
A white person walking thru Compton would be killed.
I visited a girlfriend's old neighborhood in Compton back in the early '80s when things were popping pretty good and I'm still alive 25 years later.
Posted by: RuthAlice Anderson | Jun 2, 2008 9:34:42 AM
As a fellow white person, I cringe when I read the comments challenging JoAnn's experience or comparing the experience of being Italian, of all things, to being black in America. It reveals more about white neuroses and guilt about racism in American than anything else. We seem so guilt-ridden and shamed by racism that we deal with it by pretending it doesn't happen, by challenging people's experience or equating a few relatively benign ethnic stereotypes with the malignancy of racism.
We would do so much better if we would just admit it, America is racist. We who grew up in America absorbed its culture and attitudes and must struggle with racism as a given. Admitting to the problem is the first step to combating it and the desperate lengths people go to avoid recognizing racism is self-defeating and unproductive. In the case of some of these posts, if it were not so destructive it would be funny. Honestly, stereotypes about screenwriters?
Posted by: Becky | Jun 2, 2008 11:00:14 AM
I'm finding that the whispered racism I always knew was there is bursting back out into the open, even coming up in "polite" conversation. People who are dear to me have said the most shocking things. Honestly, I had no idea the pervasiveness of this problem until the last year. As Obama has edged closer to the White House, it seems people who have hidden their feelings for a long time are being pushed past the point where they can bite their tongues.
However, I know that my kids and their generation are less racist than my generation, which is less racist than my parents' generation, and progress is being made. Yes, there are racist kids today, but more and more Americans harbor less and less of this awful poison, and I believe a time is coming when it will be different. I can only hope that by the time whites are done with it, they haven't so alienated the other races that they cannot be forgiven.
Posted by: Becky | Jun 2, 2008 11:00:14 AM
I'm finding that the whispered racism I always knew was there is bursting back out into the open, even coming up in "polite" conversation. People who are dear to me have said the most shocking things. Honestly, I had no idea the pervasiveness of this problem until the last year. As Obama has edged closer to the White House, it seems people who have hidden their feelings for a long time are being pushed past the point where they can bite their tongues.
However, I know that my kids and their generation are less racist than my generation, which is less racist than my parents' generation, and progress is being made. Yes, there are racist kids today, but more and more Americans harbor less and less of this awful poison, and I believe a time is coming when it will be different. I can only hope that by the time whites are done with it, they haven't so alienated the other races that they cannot be forgiven.
Posted by: Chris Lowe | Jun 2, 2008 11:11:06 AM
Having some knowledge of JoAnn Bowman in public life and on her KBOO radio show with Dave Mazza, I am reasonably sure that she understood some of the crap this post would generate in response, and decided to challenge us all to talk about this anyway. So I agree with Mara in the thanks she offers (also on her comments about Maya Wiley). The challenge to white people goes further, I think. It includes figuring out how to be good allies, when and where we can, and also not to leave the burden of raising and addressing the issues on black people, or Latinos, or Native Americans or Asian-Americans.
One of the problems in talking about racism is raised by Rulial in saying "racism is evil." Most people don't think of themselves as evil, and don't think of their culture as evil, which makes it hard to look at racism at either the personal or societal level, for those who have the option to avoid it.
Evil is a very all-or-nothing kind of word, and racism also tends to be in U.S. ideas, particularly as applied to persons. You're either racist or you're not, we tend to say and think. If you do something racist, that makes you a racist. And, like evil, there is a tendency to think of being racist or a racist as a sort of existential condition, as a permanent characteristic. These tendencies create strong incentives toward denial or minimization.
JoAnn Bowman describes actions. Focusing on actions has a number of advantages for those of us who want to wrestle with these problems and fight against racism. It is much easier to change what I do than who or what I am. Not necessarily easy, but much easier. It is more comprehensible. It can be taken piece by piece, broken down into manageable parts. Likewise at the societal level, it is possible to examine and analyze actions and their patterns, or often inactions and their patterns, and to pursue policies to change them.
Looking at actions and inactions is also a way to uncover our own unconscious or semi-conscious attitudes. Most of us don't want to be racist, don't set out to be, don't think of ourselves as being so, wouldn't want to think we are. Yet many of us believe racism persists, credit the kind of testimony Ms. Bowman has given us, and understand its cultural persistence as related to unconscious and semi-conscious psychology, in part. While it isn't possible to be entirely objective about oneself, stepping back to think about and describe our actions and inactions, and to ask critical questions about how they fit in the picture of racism is possible.
On "perception is reality," well, it is and it isn't. We also have to face the reality of multiple perceptions. One aspect of that which has stood out for me in particular is the gap between intentions and effects. People who are concerned in some way about whether some of their actions are racist and anxious to deny it will tend to focus on intentions, and ignore effects. But intentions aren't the end of the question. The perception of lack of racist intent doesn't create a reality of lack of racist effect.
There are also some very hard things in looking at social and cultural aspects that have to do with the dynamics and mutual construction of race and class in our society. On the one hand, disproportionate concentration of inequality along racial and ethnic lines has worked to minimize and distort understanding of class as an issue in U.S. society. On the other hand, focus purely on class-based approaches to social inequality on the left obscures the specific dynamics of race and ethnicity in the system.
Much of the racial resentment we have seen mobilized in recent Democratic primaries reflects our poverty of thinking and language about those interactions.
Note: The presence of any individual above does not imply an endorsement by BlueOregon. The selection of faces shown is done by Facebook. Visit BlueOregon on Facebook.
Post a comment
Posted by: backbeat | May 31, 2008 9:31:08 PM
Thanks so much for your post.