Racism

I know this is a very ‘touchy’ subject for many, but it’s not like I’m running for the Presidency of United States of America, so why not talk about it. It all started at the Philadelphia international airport on July 1^st. My wife and I were leaving for California, and arrived at a long term parking lot close to the Philadelphia International airport early in the morning. The parking lot was being managed by a few African American people. The guy who received us, asked us to get our luggage out of the car and put it on the side where the shuttle was going to come shortly and so I did. In a few minutes, the shuttle arrived and the driver, also an African American, got out and asked us to start loading our stuff in to the shuttle, and again, so I did.

My wife and I were sitting in the shuttle, and waiting for it to start, when I saw another car pull in to the lot. The car was driven by a white couple in their late 40’s. Both were ‘dressed up’. The guy was wearing a grey blazer, and the lady was also wearing a top notch black dress. Without the luggage, you would think that they were going to a party. So anyway, the same guy who received us receives them. But guess what, he is more gracious and even takes out the luggage of the couple from the trunk and brings it close to the shuttle. The driver of the shuttle, then comes out of his seat, and loads the couple’s luggage in the shuttle. Both of us paid the same amount for the valet parking, but of course I get the lowly treatment. Now I’m thinking, should I have worn a blazer instead of shorts and a T-shirt to get this kind of a treatment? But I know the answer is ‘No’. For some reason, I have noticed that a lot of people of minority races don’t always treat people from other minority with respect. It’s almost like they are racist towards other minorities.

So why is it that some of us get a different treatment than others? I don’t know the answer to that, but I do know that it stinks to be on the receiving end. Once I had this parking lot experience, throughout my journey to California, I kept looking at behavior of people towards the minority races. Sadly, from east coast to west coast there’s not much change. In the flight, after scrambling to catch seats (Southwest airlines), we finally settled in our seats, and after 40 minutes and at 30,000 feet, the air hostess (Caucasian) came over to ask us for drinks. I told the lady the name of my drink 3 times as clearly as I could, but after all my failed attempts, she tells the guy sitting next to me (also Caucasian) “I really can’t understand what he’s asking for?” The guy then says to her “He’s asking for the energy drink” and then she say’s “oh of course! Thank you so much.” At first, I was terribly annoyed at myself, and irritated with her (remember this translation scene from the movie ‘Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay’). Anyway, I looked at my wife nodding my head in disbelief and with red eyes, but she told me to let it go. When our drinks were served, I yelled out “Thank you!” so at least 2 seats in the front and back of us could hear me clearly. The air hostess was perplexed as if she had given me some hard drinks by mistake. The guy sitting next to me started smiling. Now I felt good.

Even in day-to-day life, I have noticed a lot of different attitudes of people towards people like me, people of minority. I have not always been on the receiving end, but I do feel bad for whoever it is. And I feel even worse when it is people, who themselves are part of minority, behave in such a manner. Don’t we have enough issues with the so called superior classes that we have to treat each other also badly? We definitely aren’t always standing in the way of each other’s job prospects. I mean, I wasn’t looking to take away the jobs of the parking lot people? Would they have been looked at differently if they would have given us the same respect that they gave others? I don’t know, but I sure as hell would like to know. Maybe these are just one off scattered incidents and I’m reading way too much into it, but the point is why should there be any incident at all. The recent incident at the Huntingdon Valley swim club in Pennsylvania is just another example of how racism on a broader scale is still very much prevalent in our day to day lives. The video of one of the day care children explaining what he heard is very heartwarming to watch, and the kid is rightfully upset. So did things ‘change’ after we had the first African-American President elected to the highest office? I’m sure they did, but maybe some things will remain the same throughout our lives no matter what. I really hope I’m wrong on this one.