Whenever people want to demonstrate how unbiased we are, we often start by saying, "One of my best friends is (fill in the blank)." So, why break with tradition?
One of my best friends is a dual minority. By that I mean by virtue of ethnicity and sexual orientation. Despite this, on more than one occasion he's mentioned to me that (in his search for a new house) he visited one owned by black people and it was still "nice and clean." The first time he said that, it really caught me off guard. I thought I must have misunderstood. Since then, he's repeated the comment another time or two. I find it quite perplexing that someone of his age (who I'm sure must have experienced some form of discrimation at least once in his life) could be so oblivious to the fact that that would be considered a prejudicial statement.
By the same token, it's amazing how many ethnically ambiguous expressions are still a part of the common vernacular. Some of my co-workers have talked about having a "Chinese gift exchange" for Christmas. Who hasn't heard of a "Chinese fire drill" or a "Mexican stand-off." When cheated, do we say "I got gypped!"? Or if someone takes something back from us do we call them an "Indian-giver?" I could go on. It's just so easy to be so careless with speech. It's so easy to not realize how a group can be marginalized or even denigrated by a seemingly harmless word or phrase. It's so easy to not think before we speak.
I'm going to be on the lookout for the next time my friend makes that statement.
One of my best friends is a dual minority. By that I mean by virtue of ethnicity and sexual orientation. Despite this, on more than one occasion he's mentioned to me that (in his search for a new house) he visited one owned by black people and it was still "nice and clean." The first time he said that, it really caught me off guard. I thought I must have misunderstood. Since then, he's repeated the comment another time or two. I find it quite perplexing that someone of his age (who I'm sure must have experienced some form of discrimation at least once in his life) could be so oblivious to the fact that that would be considered a prejudicial statement.
By the same token, it's amazing how many ethnically ambiguous expressions are still a part of the common vernacular. Some of my co-workers have talked about having a "Chinese gift exchange" for Christmas. Who hasn't heard of a "Chinese fire drill" or a "Mexican stand-off." When cheated, do we say "I got gypped!"? Or if someone takes something back from us do we call them an "Indian-giver?" I could go on. It's just so easy to be so careless with speech. It's so easy to not realize how a group can be marginalized or even denigrated by a seemingly harmless word or phrase. It's so easy to not think before we speak.
I'm going to be on the lookout for the next time my friend makes that statement.
1 comment:
One of my best frends is black! (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)
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