Instance of Racism or Not? What Would You Have Done?

In My Humble Opinion
1

As a rule, I hate it when people leap to conclusions that this, that, or the other is racist, homophobic, sexist, or whatever. That’s why I’m wondering if I handled this right.

A week or two ago I was helping some people move into my apartment complex. While we were working, a couple of black fellows drove up in a rather nice-looking SUV to ask for directions; they wanted to see the superintendent of the apartment complex across the street and had come to the wrong place. One of the other movers redirected them and they drove away across the street.

After the guys in the SUV left, one of the movers told another mover (who had been inside the building while all this was going on), “We had some Jamaicans drive up, mon. And in a shiny new SUV. Wonder where they got the money for that?” The other guy says, in what I took for a sarcastic tone, “Well, I’m sure it’s something entirely above board and respectable.”

I took this for a racist innuendo; I felt they wouldn’t have said that if some white guys had driven up in an SUV. I interjected calmly, “I’d say they have as good a right to buy an SUV as any of us.” The other guy answered, “I wouldn’t buy an SUV for anything,” and we let the matter drop.

The thing that annoys me is that, in retrospect, I think the other two movers were right to be suspicious of the guys in the SUV. The apartments across the street are low-income public housing; if you have enough income to buy a nice SUV, you can’t live there except by paying a truly ridiculous rent for a mediocre apartment. (This is in a small town where you could easily find apartments twice as good for half the rent). I find it hard to imagine a plausible reason why these two fellows would be looking for the superintendent if they didn’t live or plan to live in these low-income apartments, and harder still to imagine why they would live in those apartments if they were earning lots of legitimate cash. And all of the above paragraph would have applied equally well if the two men had been white.

Still, I can’t shake the feeling that nothing like the above chain of reasoning was going through the minds of my two moving acquaintances. I don’t think they were focusing on the fact that the two guys were going to a low-income housing apartment; they apparently focused on the fact that the pair was Jamaican.

So what would you have thought and done? Was I being oversensitive? And if I wasn’t, should I have reacted more strongly?

2

I think it was probably racial, but I also think you handled it right. You didn’t reinforce their prejudice, but instead ignored it, which sent them a message that you didn’t agree. If you’d have called them on it, they would not have gotten the same positive message. That’s all IMHO.

3

its better to ignore racist remarks whether they come from white people or black people (or any other race)
its a no win situation.
you cannot reason with unreasonable people (by definition)

4

Silence is often seen as a tacit approval. I think you did right.

5

djf750 wrote

I disagree. Words have meaning and actions cause results. Saying nothing is the same as agreeing.

Danimal, you did right.

6

also it sounds like the two guys in the SUV were a bit suspicious and maybe your co workers sensed this too and are just fed up with drug dealers like the rest of us are and were just venting

7

if they had gone on and on i would say something, but for one comment i still think its better to say nothing
people DO notice when you are silent and not agreeing with them

8

Also, I wonder if the drivers had been black, but hadn’t had Jamaican accents, would the same comment have been made?

9

Well, did they speak in a Jamacian accent? If so, then I wouldn’t say that it was definately racism. After all, if some Jamacain white guy comes up to me, and he’s got a thick accent, I’m going to assume that this man smokes weed. Wrong? maybe. But it will be my first thought. Now, If I think the same thing about a black man from Jamacia, is that racist? I don’t think so.

It’s an assumption that many people in this country have – People from Jamacia are potheads.

If two people of any skin color rolled up to me in an expensive ride, and they had glazed eyes and a spacey demeanor, then I would assume they were potheads and also assume there’s a good chance that they paid for the car by illegal means.

Just because there is a (probably mostly incorrect) stereotype about people from Jamacia, that doesn’t mean it’s racially motivated, IMO.
Now, it’s very possible that these guys had racist undertones in what hey were saying. It’s also very possible that they didn’t.

10

See? I’m so racist I can’t even spell Jamaica.

11

Probably a little racial, and a little general mistrust of people they don’t know. It happens a lot.

12

Racist - definitely jumping to conclusions, would they (the ones making the observation) been happier if the two guys asking directions were driving a junker?

13

Maybe Grandpa lives in the public housing, and is having some kind of tenant problem. He’s not familiar with housing policies, and at his age, he gets kinda…confused, ya know? So he calls on his grandsons to come by and represent him in his meeting with the superintendent.

Of course, the grandsons know enough to ask directly for the superintendent, by name and title. People don’t take too kindly to dark-skinned young males who seem to be looking around aimlessly; they have to state their purpose upfront. So no one will think they’re up to something.

14

And no, I’m not trying to be provacitive. I believe that racism is making assumptions about someone because of their race. It’s not quite the same as race hatred, but it still does damage.

The interesting thing to me is that you assume that someone would value their apartment above their car. Perhaps to the two gentlemen in the SUV, a car is something that says a lot about you to other people, and an apartment is just where you sleep(then again, maybe not). You also neglected to consider that the SUV was a rental, or that they were there on legitimate business (contractors, dropping off printing, going to see a sister at a new job, etc. etc). There are at least 500 possible reasons for those men to be there, your “isms” led you to narrow the possibilities to two.

What if they had been two middle-aged white guys in dark suits and sun glasses–what would you have taken them for?
How about 2 hispanics in jeans, an old truck, and straw hats?

As far as the comments from the movers, I’d take the first for prejudice, and perhaps it’s race based, but then again, perhaps it’s a bit more fuzzy than that. If it had been two early twenties-any color-guys dressed a certain way, they may have been taken for drug dealers. Interesting that most of us see drug dealers as the people who get arrested for dealing drugs on TV. I’ve known a couple of drug dealers in the past, and they live in the suburbs, are middle aged, and have regular jobs in addition to their “home business”. They stay below the establishment’s radar, and don’t get caught.

What’s-his-name’s Razor works pretty well in most cases, where the most probable answer is the answer most of the time, but it gets most of us into trouble a lot because we assume that the answer we come up with is the most probable, so we have racial profiling and a host of other discriminatory practices.

I’m glad you spoke up. I wish we all did. I don’t know what affect it has on others, but I say something whenever I hear an offensive remark about anyone. At times, it only gets me a dirty look, but my message is that I don’t support that behavior. I call people on other bad behavior, and my fantasy is that someday we all will, and we’ll get to live in a cleaner, nicer, more just society.