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There was the usual prayer, and meet-n'-greet, with the reps; a bubbly well-dressed middle-aged woman and her husband, and a perky and even more bubbly young woman from Atlantic Baptist University. We were exchanging pleasantries and introductions when one of them turns me to says,
What about you? You must come from very far away...
In what looked to me like the most patronizingly condescending tone of voice possible in an older-middle-aged Church-going Bible-believing Christian housewife. Oh, I see. So I probably look to you like I'm from some backwater third-world country in the middle of nowhere (with no doubt any running water, electricity, or appreciation for "Western Civilization") quite probably because I:
a) Am not white
b) Am not white
c) Happen to have a stutter
d) Am not white
Imagine her surprise when I tell her I'm from Toronto. And I actually said it a little more slowly, just for added emphasis: "To-ron-to".
Unexpected racial stereotypes, Take 2
The whole thing eventually ended and I assumed my dutiful role of walking one of my friends home, all the while enjoying her relating of some personal points of interest in her life. We had the good fortune of meeting up with one of the guys, who, of course, proeceeds to completely take over the conversation, by, of course, shifting it to the one topic of conversation which renders me completely impotent both verbally and intellectually: musical performance. I cede the floor, and at the very end, he turns to his house...and wouldn't you know it, it's just my luck that he happens to ask me
So, where are you from?
Uh, Toronto. I've told you that before, you know, but hey, I can understand that since we've just met and barely known each other beyond a few weeks...
Oh, I'm just asking because I wasn't sure if you were from around here-
My friend asks me what's going on, and of course I clue her in as to why he's so amazed that I'm from Toronto. Psst! Hint: I'm not white...
Of course, I make sure he's within earshot.
No, no, it's because you really act like someone who's from Fredericton...
And of course I nod my head politely, outwardly take his comment at face value, and tell him how well I've acclimatized myself to the rather un-Torontonian pace and style of life here. Yeah, nice recovery, 'bro.
On the persistence of the reliance of outward appearances in the formation of judgements on people
Reading an essay in a Stephen Jay Gould book I bought at the Owl's Nest brought to mind just how vulnerable we are to the dangers of judging a proverbial book by its cover. Gould talked about Frankenstein's Monster, and the horrible tragedy of one of its original messages in Shelley's novel - the evils that can come out of our natural aversion to things we find anomalous or outwardly unsightly and repugnant. When it gets right down to it, we as a society are still so immersed in our socio-cultural biases and in socio-cultural images and sterotypes...and many of those images and sterotypes reinforce arguably negative (or at the very least mildly unpleasant and distasteful) assumptions and beliefs about those people.
For all of our talk of racial equality and racial "colorblindedness" we still find ourselves subconsciously making assumptions about people right off the bat based off of what we see and how we see it - in fact, this very blog post itself is an example of this. For all I know, it's most certain that the two people I encountered that night are both people who said what they said without any malice or negative racial intent, and buddy who expressed his surprise at me being from Toronto most likely thought that I actually had been from Fredericton.
I don't harbour hatred or frustration towards them...perhaps a desire to ask them more about what they thought of me and why they thought it. Rather, I feel a substantial amount of frustration at the fact that it's now 2006 and I still get funny looks from people that I'm sure I wouldn't get if I were of the Caucasian persuasion. Back in Toronto, I could hit up a conversation with someone of another nationality and no one would think anything of it, but here I can't help but wonder if people still subconsciously have "funny ideas" about non-white people. Ok, ok, I realize it's not fair to expect a melting pot of multicultural diversity in Atlantic Canada of all places, but we live in an area of 24-hour cable TV news, blogs, and the Global Village. I mean, we live in a country that is arguably defined by its multiculturalism. I don't think expecting a little multicultural and racial awareness is too much to ask.
(EDIT: I've chosen to follow this up with a postscript, where you get to see me with egg all over my face. Isn't that fun?)
2 comments:
Completely off topic, but why didn't you TELL me you'd set up another blog? I've been checking your old one every other day for updates, like a total knob!! Oh well.
I can't comment on racial attitudes in Atlantic Canada, because (1) I've never been there, and (2) I pretty much *am* Whitey, so I probably wouldn't notice anything as subtle as what you descibe. Remember, though, that non-Torontonian Canadians (or "barbarians" as I like to call them... you know, just to piss them off,) sometimes harbor strange ideas about what Torontonians should be like. Imagine such near-sightedness!
Whenever I hear silly assumptions like that, I smile and nod my head, but firmly instruct those serfs of the ROC (in a loud voice, using small words, of course) to get back to work tilling the soil. We wouldn't want the *important* people in Toronto to go without an economy to dominate, now would we?
When faced with people who ask, "Where are you from?", I smile and give them one complete sentence in flawless English. It's not so much the words that matter, as it is the perfect Canadian accent. Let the accent speak for itself. If I'm feeling particularly vengeful, I'll casually throw in a "big word" or two as though it were nothing. That usually shuts them up.
Maybe it's just me, but sometimes I feel like people in less enlightened-- oh, pardon me, racially diversified regions don't want to know/believe that non-whites can be (culturally) just like them. As if we're not supposed to wear jeans and eat pizza and be proficient with cutting-edge technology. As if all that is not ours to partake of. As if it were theirs and we're not allowed to "steal" it.
Sapientiam non habent. Bellum est. Bring it on.
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