Pessimists R Us

[quesarah]

I take the train to work. From the train station I take a bus to my lab. The bus stop is roughly a half mile and gives me a pleasant walk each way. Yesterday evening it was misting rain and chilly, but not horribly so. I began my walk to the bus stop like any other day.

Two different drivers offered me a ride. One fellow in an SUV pulled a u-turn so he could make sure I was okay. "No one should have to walk in the rain," he said. I thanked both of them but declined. How nice of them to stop. Sometimes people surprise me. Happy thoughts.

After I arrived at the bus stop I watched the regulars walk up; a young black man, a scruffy long-haired white man, and the usual group of Mexican-American men and women from the nearby businesses. All walking up...

Did anyone stop to offer them a ride or is that still one of the "bonuses" of being an innocuous-looking white woman? How much progress have we really made? Is it ever going to get better? Is it better anywhere else? Is it even possible to combat racism or are we horribly inevitably fucked?

Comments

[nightxade.livejournal.com]

I agree with pretty much everything you have said, but I also want to throw another stone in the puddle - reverse racism. The people who cry racism at every chance they get. The people who are seeking "reparation" for the enslavement of their ancestors. The people who use racism as an excuse for their own failure. The people who segregate themselves and then demand to be treated equally...

I had a post on racism and how it affects me a while back and got some pretty interesting responses about other people's experiences.

Personally, I think the only way to combat racism in the "civilized" world is to take every child away from their parents and raise them in a big nursery run by androids representing every race and culture until they are about 10 years old.

[biogeekgrrl.livejournal.com]

Your post on racism was very cool with some wonderful responses.

Personally, I think the only way to combat racism in the "civilized" world is to take every child away from their parents and raise them in a big nursery run by androids representing every race and culture until they are about 10 years old.

Strangely enough, that's about the most logical reaction I've heard.

[wafflelips.livejournal.com]

I think it's part of human nature to catergorize things and determine how much someone is similar or different compared to yourself and those closest to you. From there, people make generalizations. Some are friendlier about it than others based on the exposure they've had to people that are different from them and what they are taught by their family/community.

For me, my assumptions of 'others' were most challenged when I lived in places other than my hometown (Cleveland) and when I dealt with coming out. Living in new places gave me exposure to soooo mnay different people/cultures and I learned a lot of my assumptions. I would be such a different person had I not left Cleveland.