“On Race, Can We All Lighten Up?”
This summer, I have read various columns written by Larry Elder. Elder is a black male who is very invested in politics and the problems in the United States. One issue that he writes about a lot is racism and how it can be seen in his everyday life. He is able to present this problem to the reader through storytelling. This can be seen primarily in the column “On Race, Can We All Lighten Up?” In this column, Elder uses vivid descriptions of situations he has encountered to show how racism has been ingrained into society and the stereotypes that have been formed.
Elder covers 2 experiences where he falsy took race into account in this column. He first writes about an experience that he once encountered at a gas station. He states that when he got out of his, he heard the phrase, “Hey, want a banana?” This instantly surprised Elder and he began to look for the man who he thought was racist. He then discovers that the man was carrying bananas in his SUV, and was offering one to a homeless man. Elder then makes a few jokes with the men about the situation and carries on with his day. Next, he talks about a previous job that he had where he was looking for a new candidate. Elder states, “Before submitting his resume to my client, I wanted to meet this candidate, and we arranged to get together at a Philadelphia hotel. I was to be there for other business, and he worked nearby. This was pre-internet and pre-Zoom call, and we had only spoken several times on the phone. We agreed to an 8 a.m. breakfast and that I would meet him in the hotel lobby.” When he arrived at the lobby, he says that there were at least 15 people waiting for meetings or other things. As time went by, many of these people had left the lobby and Elder could not find his candidate. Then, Elder decides to walk up to a man who was constantly glancing at his watch. It turns out that man was the candidate, and he was also black, just like Elder. Both men made false assumptions, as the candidate thought the “Head Hunter” would be white, and Elder thought his candidate would be white. These stories both show the stereotypes that have been formed in today’s society. They are also able to show us that racism is a part of our everyday lives, whether we know it or not.
Discussion Question: Have you experienced a situation like this, where a peer or maybe even yourself had made a claim that was harmful to another race when in reality, it was not intended to be. How can we teach up-and-coming generations to ignore stereotypes that have been made?
I have experienced many situations like this, where an individual was unintentionally racist. Most commonly, when people of color are the “butt of the joke”. I think in more rural areas, like Northbridge, where the population is predominately white, people tend to care less about what they say and the potential harm in it. This can stem from being overly confident that “nothing will happen” or that it won’t hurt anyone since the race they’re joking about isn’t present in the room, or it can derive from a lack of: guidance from parents, understanding, and mutual respect. In order to eliminate this negative and destructive behavior, we, and future generations, have to be more mindful when it comes to our impact on others. Allowing there to be an environment where we are comfortable with questioning ourselves and our beliefs could also help.
I feel that most people in our generation would answer yes to that question, whether it’s because they were actually in a situation where someone was unintentionally racist, or have just witnessed on the news or in the media on a fairly regular basis. This is because people nowadays are taking small things and blowing them way out of proportion, making the real comments and actions regarding racism and other issues to be go without the recognition they need or deserve. That being said, we can teach up-and-coming generations to evaluate an issue or statement on how urgent and how large it is and take the appropriate size step to solving it at that moment, not diminishing it, but also not blowing it up and accidentally burying even more pressing issues.
Situations like this occur everyday, whether it be at school or on the news. However, more and more people are beginning to take these harmless jokes and claims offensively, when in reality just the act of taking offense is worse than the joke itself to an infinite degree. All forms of discrimination occur in the world, there is no doubt about that, but so much of that is people who took something somewhere where it was never meant to be, as in they recontextualized the idea of what was to be said in a racist or generally offensive manner. Modern society has taught kids to point out every minor offense in each word they say, when in reality it is doing more harm than good. It is better to have people just relax and not take things too seriously, unless it truly becomes serious. That is the exact philosophy that up-and-coming generations need to be taught.