His Point of View

Recently I was out with a friend and we visited a bar that has a diverse group of patrons. While at this bar I met a young lady who was born and lived until her teen years in a South American country. We had a decent conversation and then I was asked a question I have never encountered while out socially, or even from someone I have dated. ‘You aren’t a racist, are you?’ I stopped for a second to think about what I could have said to trigger such a question, and I came up with nothing. She indicated that I had not said anything out of line, but it was something she felt the need to ask since she had experienced problems with racism in the past since arriving in the US.

Even though our conversation never touched on racially sensitive topics before that moment, it made me think about how much of a problem racism remains to be if I meet a person and it becomes a subject of discussion in a bar where we just met and we barely know each other.

Of course the answer I gave her was ‘no.’ But, in reality I think that it is extremely difficult to be that cut and dry. I think the vast,vast majority of people give preference to people who are similar to themselves. Even if all of the people in the room are African American, one would likely give preferential treatment to someone from the same city, college, high school, etc.
The problem is that when color or ‘race’ is involved having that same preference for people of a similar background as one’s self becomes a problem.
We do not have to act on our impulse to give preference to those similar to us, but in many ways I think it is somewhat a natural desire. If we do not act on that impulse but we recognize that it exists, does that not mean that we are still ‘racist’ or at least that we still desire to give preference to those who appear to be similar? Sure deciding not to act on that impulse is the right/fair thing to do, but that does not change our desire to be more helpful toward people similar to each of us.

Be honest with yourself, reflect on your thoughts, desires, words, and actions, then ask yourself what the most accurate answer would be if you were asked “you aren’t a racist, are you?”