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Location: Living near our Nation's Capitol since 2010
2,218 posts, read 3,453,491 times
Reputation: 6035
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Ya know, its not the end of the world..perhaps I should have been more assertive with this chick. What blacks must realize is that white folks often do NOT want to be assertive because it might be percieved as aggressive and racist behavior.
I wont file a complaint..I use this library probably once a week. I am sure I will deal with this person again. My behavior, however, will be FAR more assertive in the future.
I am just disappointed because I thought that the races had moved beyond this sort of thing. Guess not.
Ya know, its not the end of the world..perhaps I should have been more assertive with this chick. What blacks must realize is that white folks often do NOT want to be assertive because it might be percieved as aggressive and racist behavior.
I wont file a complaint..I use this library probably once a week. I am sure I will deal with this person again. My behavior, however, will be FAR more assertive in the future.
I am just disappointed because I thought that the races had moved beyond this sort of thing. Guess not.
Some people have and some people haven't. Given the current economic and social strife in this country a there is a lot of divisiveness in the media and in social discourse. It not surprising that there are going to be some hostile people out there.
What a terrible thing to say. Way to completely minimize what the OP went through.
Hopefully this was written with great sarcasm.
There was one part of the OP's story that I had declined to address. I believe the quote was, "I couldn't believe that this sort of thing still happened in this day and age" or something like it. Well, if the biggest racial slight that has ever taken place in your life is that someone wasn't miss all sunshine and light when you go to checkout a book well frankly, I didn't do a good enough job of minimizing it to the point that it deserved.
As I said, the actions of the clerk, as reported, was rude and unprofessional. Life changing? No. Scarier than a bunch of hoods and a burning cross. I think not.
That's because now that we have a black (or biracial depending on what time it is) president there is no such thing as racism against black people. At least that seems to be the general synopsis.
What I've seen in a lot of cases is attempts to minimize White on Black racism unless it's really blatant. Black on White racism gets plenty of attention.
Location: Huntersville/Charlotte, NC and Washington, DC
26,699 posts, read 41,742,544 times
Reputation: 41381
Quote:
Originally Posted by FlightAttendant
A little background: I am a white female who was raised in the Midwest. I was raised, both at home and at school and at church, to believe that all races are equal, we should treat everyone the way we want to be treated, etc. I live my life that way, I agree with Martin Luther King that we should judge folks by the strength of character rather than by the color of their skin, etc.
I moved back to DC last Fall. I live in a predominantly black neighborhood of professionals, have great neighbors, etc. No racial issues at all..that is why, what happened to me today (at the library, then yet!!) rocked me to the core.
I went to the library a few blocks from my home, found 4 books I wanted to borrow and went to the desk. This library serves what is primarily (90% or so, approximately) black neighborhood. There were no other patrons at the check out desk, there was a young (30 year old?) librarian/library clerk at the desk. She was checking in books, etc. I stood in front of her, politely and silently, while she finished what she was doing. She looked directly at me, I smiled at her, but she then calmly went back to being busy on the computer. Since I did not want to be pushy, I waited, assuming she was finishing something important...but
Two separate black patrons walked up to her and asked her questions...like where certain materials might be found, where is the bathroom, etc. She very cordially and in a friendly manner chatted with them. After the second one left, I said, "If you could, I would like to check these 4 books out, please". She looked at me and said nothing for a few seconds, and then said (reluctantly), "yes, I didnt see you" Actually yes she did, she looked directly into my eyes and then she helped two other patrons.
By now I was feeling pretty upset. I said, "I didnt think this kind of thing still went on in this day and age" and she smiled and said, "well, I am not sure what you refer to". I said, "I think you know what I mean" and she smiled and said, "yes". She silently checked my materials out and slid them over to me.
Silly me, I thanked her and walked away..she never said another word.
I am almost positive it was a racial snub but would be curious as to your reactions.
I moved out of the DC area last year. Sad to say, your story does not shock me. Many people in the DC area will tell you that there are no racial issues there. As a black guy who lived there nearly 6 years, I can safely say there are seeded racial tensions in the area. There is a fair amount of reverse racism there (Black-on-white). There are racially-motivated idiots everywhere (just check my thread on this subforum today on a library patron in Louisville shouting "stupid white people"), you just ran into one today.
Now if a black person on these boards had posted such a story, one could expect a slew of post chastising the writer to stop playing the race card and just accept that the person was just plain old rude, obnoxious or whatever.
Was this a result of racism, or to be more precise prejudice, who knows for sure. Whatever happened, based solely on what the author has written, was unfortunate, rude and certainly warranted being discussed with her superiors. An incident of racial discrimination maybe, but welcome to the world of people of color who constantly have to guess was the person being just rude or what they being rude as a result of their race.
I've been treated this way with black and white clerks or sales person. They won't help unless you say something.
I live in DC. You walk away from the counter and say, what a bytch. No more or less.
VA is a predominantly white area, so this of behavior happens to me there. Just sayin.
First, I can honestly say that people who work in libraries are some of the worst customer service people ever. I rarely come across one who doesn't look like they are suffering when someone walks up to them.
Second, I get bad customer service everywhere, regardless who it is. Especially in the grocery stores, which is why I do the self check-out whenever I can. I don't know what it is, probably the fact that customer service jobs are no fun, at all. It's kind of a catch-22: people who work in customer service deal w/just horrible customers & also customers deal w/poor customer service. Which came first?
I moved out of the DC area last year. Sad to say, your story does not shock me. Many people in the DC area will tell you that there are no racial issues there. As a black guy who lived there nearly 6 years, I can safely say there are seeded racial tensions in the area. There is a fair amount of reverse racism there (Black-on-white). There are racially-motivated idiots everywhere (just check my thread on this subforum today on a library patron in Louisville shouting "stupid white people"), you just ran into one today.
Really dude. All the black and white folks here. Are you saying, there is racism here, but only toward whites. Are you kidding me?
I don't know anyone shouting from the roof tops there is not racism here. People in DC moving in from other states. For the most part, blacks and whites deal with each other here. People from other states have different thoughts on race relations.
Location: Living near our Nation's Capitol since 2010
2,218 posts, read 3,453,491 times
Reputation: 6035
Thank you, Alanboy....Your comments made me feel as if it was not all in my head. I appreciate the open dialog and I recognize that this stuff really must go on.
I really do long for the day that this stuff does not happen to EITHER race.
If I were in the situation I would have thought it was bad customer service before I jumped to a racial snub, but that's just me. However if I were in that situation I would have walked up and said "Hi. I'd like to check these out please". I've learned the hard way that standing around smiling at people usually doesn't yield the results I want.
You learn this as black folks. Is he being rude or an azz. I don't know. You do know you're not going to allow his behavior to ruin your day. You say, hey excuse me.
As whites, you guys walk into stores expect help
As blacks, we hope we are.
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