Mark is still ranting and raving. I can't blame him much, he could be correct about things. Let's try another little experiment. Here are a couple of photos. Take a look at each one and think about who they might be and whether they are any obvious threat to society.
Don't do it right away, but after a few moments looking at this cute girl and the thug, click on each photo.
That was too easy...
ReplyDeleteNice smile in her new orange jumpsuit.
I know that any thinking person would figure out what I was doing there right away. But what would the immediate gut reaction be if you just came across those photos separately without reading the captions? I'd probably want to cross the street if the black guy was coming towards me, and smile at the nice lady.
ReplyDelete9 times out of 10 here in Philly and back in Texas bitchy young white girl would make fun of me for being gay and bodyguard black guy would hold door open for me. Probably helps that I work with a guy that looks like 2nd pic. He's a big teddy bear and we talk comic books and super heroes.
ReplyDeleteNo, in the first microsecond a white person would probably think the black guy wouldn't be as good a doctor as a nice Jewish doctor, and the skinhead is just a good ole boy who likes motorcycles. A decent person would recognize that thought immediately and correct themselves mentally. Denial of deeply ingrained attitudes is just as bad as overt racism. "How could I be a racist. I hang out with lots of black friends from work."
ReplyDeleteLuckily young people are much more accepting than us old farts.
I'm talking about feeling threatened, as in the Zimmerman case. It's not skin color but the totality of whether the person's dress and appearance codes them as intimidating. Case in point: google the Howard University School of Medicine hoodie photo memorial to Trayvon. In it, a group of black medical students appear in urban dress and hoodies, and then appear in their lab coats, with the caption, "Are we intimidating now?"
ReplyDeleteSomewhat opposite of what their apparent intent was, this photo actually demonstrates that it's not the race of the person that makes them intimidating, it's the thuggish attire that people respond to negatively.
Agree with Anonymous above!
ReplyDelete