Petty discrimination

A man of European descent jay-walks across the street at the wrong time. You swerve at the last instant and miss him by half an inch. "Son of a bitch!" you yell. A man of Far Eastern descent jay-walks across the street at the wrong time. You swerve at the last instant and miss him by half an inch. "Fucking Chink!" you yell. Spot the difference. Many people refer to this kind of thing as petty discrimination. I call it real discrimination.

Your reaction to both incidents is not really conscious, but comes from the uncalculated depth within. It is what Malcolm Gladwell calls rapid cognition, or thinking without thinking. It is independent of thought and of analysis, and therefore is untainted; unless of course we go back far enough to see why you react in that particular way. But for all intents and purposes it is the real-deal-feeling of the yeller. I contend that what would be appropriate would be yelling, "Son of a bitch!" at both trespassers, or yelling "Fucking Chink!" to one and "Fucking Honky!" to the other.

Sometimes as I walk down the street, handbags get switched from the side (left or right) near which I'll pass the switcher. Other times, car doors get locked when I cross the street at a pedestrian crossing, usually somewhere near twilight. I'm black, if you didn't know. This kind of stuff happened to me more in America than anywhere else. But it isn't all that uncommon in Europe. And South Africa -- does this happen at all to black, white or coloured folks in South Africa?

And is it right to refer to the practice as "petty"? I think not. It is more degrading than being picked up by the former SAP for not having a Pass (which I was, though I wasn't South African. My skin colour qualified me). Why more degrading? You at least expect the latter to happen, and can put up some sort of armour beforehand; the former sneaks up on you as you mosey about like a free person in a free country. Bam! I don't call that petty; I call it ugly.

Ugly discrimination is also the begging caucasian woman in Bloemfontein, Orange free State, who refused my coins; the negroid man in Knoxville, Tennessee, who said to me, "You've lost your way, brother," solely because I was lunching with my caucasian wife. Discrimination is loose in our midst and out on the street. There's racial discrimination, gender discrimination, religious discrimination and I don't have enough space to list them all. Are any of them petty? Petty means "small and of little importance." But this particular behaviour is huge, and it is destroying the world. So next time you hear someone say, "petty discrimination," tell them how wrong they are.

Comments

[Shaun]

Have you seen the movie Crash?

[Rethabile]

Not on the big screen yet in France. No, I haven't.

[Shaun]

We watched it on cable the other day -- not sure, maybe it may be ok DVD already? Anyway, its a good movie, and touches exactly the thoughts you have put here. Without a doubt, one of the better movies to come out last year. Would be interested to hear your opinions on it,

Shaun

[James Clark]

"And South Africa -- does this happen at all to black, white or coloured folks in South Africa?"

Only when I'm naked.

Seriously, I try not to be prejudiced. It's very primitive thinking.

The best one can do is ensure that it doesn't have a place amongst people who think further than their own skin colour.

[Rethabile]

Can't wait to see it, Shaun. They're the folks that just won a statuette, aren't they?

James, it's true that "the best one can do is ensure that it doesn't have a place amongst people who think further than their own skin colour." But here the particular point in question is bigotry that the perpetrator(s) may not even be aware of, prejudice that they are willing to swear they neither harbour nor condone, the snap judgemental racial slur or, more frequently, the gentle but biased behaviour.

[Bryan Wilhite]

I consider this stuff symptoms of a larger, primal problem. We will eventually stop treating symptoms and elminate the problem. It is almost a mathematical certainty.

Nature will take its course...

[Rethabile]

"I consider this stuff symptoms of a larger, primal problem."
--------------------
So do I. I hope the rest of what you say will come to pass. I don't know how true it is that if we "stop treating symptoms" the problem will go away, unless what you mean is: when you've caught cold, don't just treat the runny nose and the sore throat, but rather see to it that you rest, drink fluids, etc, AND that you keep away from the virus next time.

[Bryan Wilhite]

"see to it that you rest, drink fluids, etc, AND that you keep away from the virus next time"

Yes, yes...

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