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just a vent.. i've experienced more subtle and not so subtle racism in my year living in WA than the past 20 years in CA. today was my first day at my new job. i was being introduced around and one lady says to me:
RB (Racist BXXXX)-- so what's your first language?
ME: What do you mean? i only know one language, English
RB: Surely you must know another language. English can't be your first language
ME: Why would you think English is not my first language (with death glare)
RB: (stumbling around) I just thought... well, with your background... (slow fade)
ME: SMH ...
another day in WA, another unpleasant experience with an ignorant RB...
Not racism. Ignorance, maybe. Or maybe, as someone pointed out, she speaks another language and wanted to find out if you do too. I speak a few, and sometimes when I recognize someone's name is from one of the countries where I speak the language, I ask them if their name is X and if they speak X. It's not racism - it's conversation. Makes me wonder what it is about you that would make someone think English isn't your first language - an accent, maybe? Like, are you from an English speaking country that isn't the USA? Do you have an extremely foreign and difficult last name coupled with an obvious ethnic background? My husband does and gets asked this question all the time, and we don't find it offensive. I even get asked where I'm from sometimes, when people realize I know other languages, even though my English is perfect.
You need to relax and stop screaming racism. It's more unfair to other people than what they are saying to you.
It's certainly ignorance. Just feel sorry for the lady, they don't know any better. Racist? I wouldn't automatically label someone as that by the comment alone. Sort of reminds me of this:
Um, that's called racial profiling. And is that supposed to somehow make me feel better? I already know she's making ASSumptions based on my appearance. Hello Racism! White people will NEVER ever realize why their ignorant remarks are considered racist.
You will not go far in this job being so victim minded and sensitive. Lighten up.
White people will NEVER ever realize why their ignorant remarks are considered racist.
Lol, most white people don't get...
Asking you where you were from isn't racist. However, when she kept pestering and said, "Surely you must know another language. English can't be your first language" is the racist part. To the folks who still don't get it, it's called indirect racism. Most indirect racists, don't even know they're doing it. She brought it out even further with the, "I just thought... well, with your background..."
Your coworker wouldn't have said points a&b if you looked like Hilary Duff, hence why her comments were racist.
(a) "Surely you must know another language. English can't be your first language"
(b) "I just thought... well, with your background..."
Whats your ethnicity? Obviously you don't look Caucasian or Black.....I work in a fortune 500 and there are a TON of international employees here. All of whom are proud of their heritage and love to talk about it.....sounds like youre just the typical Californian "Quick to label someone."
Ignorance, certainly. It could be a form of unconscious racism but really, that wouldn't matter at that point.
The lady is ignorant if she really believes only a certain type of people are Americans.
You are also ignorant if you think speaking many languages is the sign that you're not American. I mean, do you feel proud that the average American is so bad in foreign languages that you're only entitled to speak one language?!?
A lot of people in the world speak several languages. Don't consider the question as racist, and when she asks you what your first language is, just go straight to the point: "I'm American, so my first language would be English". And you'll see what she says. If it's like in the videos where she would ask, where are you "really" from, then maybe?
But you know, even that is not enough. I have a complex identity myself, being French with Korean origins, having lived 15 years of my childhood in Central and West Africa. I studied in Germany and am now working in an American company in the US. When I go to meetings, I explain I worked in Europe, and that I am French, and I just know I have to do it because even I would not be able to guess my story if I met myself in a mirror. That's maybe unfortunate, but that's reality.
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