Is this Racism?

Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share (MPSIMS)
#1

I have yet to embrace this hypothetical, yet wonder if it would offend another ethnicity.

I’m a white male, 21, and live in Atlanta GA USA. I don’t know how Atlanta ranks for diversity, but I know from my own experiences it is very diverse.

With no more introduction, here is the hypothetical;

I walk into a Shop/Resturant/Gas station etc. I have never been in before. I automatically and perhaps ego-centrically choose a White Clerk where applicable, and avoid those that possibly are not native-born in the US.

Now, in my experiences, most of the time, I personally encounter language or perhaps cultural barriers that delay my bussines transaction, or task from being completed. When I do ask a member of another Ethnicity occasionally I run into these delays. To be fair, no not all members of that ethnicity have these same situations. ((I hope that prevents comments to my hypothetical posed above))

Since we all hate to waste time, is it ok to seek a clerk of your same ethnicity in such situations?

#2

If you preemptively seek out a white clerk, how do you know if there is a language or other barrier? You are judging the person based on their appearance alone, are you not? Or on past experiences with people who looked similar?

Quacks like a duck…

#3

In some cases, I prefer to call it “rational discrimination” if skin color/perceived “race” are not the only factors being considered in making the decision, but one of many contributing to a statistically valid model for action.

#4

I agree with EJsGirl. Although i rarely quack.

#5

Yes, it is.

The ethnicity of the clerk tells you nothing about whether they are native born or not, or anything about their language skills, very little about their culture, and nothing at all about their ability to perform their job.

So not only it is racism, it’s stupid.

#6

A white clerk may be freshly transported from Germany, Switzerland, France, Ireland, etc. You could run into just as many language/cultural problems as anyone else.

If, on the other hand, you know one particular clerk to be fast, efficient, and pleasant, and that clerk just happens to be white, then that’s not racism. I, for instance, am pretty familiar with all of the cashiers in the grocery store where I do my marketing. Some of them are very efficient, some of them less so, and some of them are real ass aches, what with double and triple checking each coupon for validity, etc. I will wait in a slightly longer line for a faster, friendlier cashier, and I could care less what color/ethnicity that clerk is.

To make a long post short, yes, the hypothetical situation in the OP is racist (and, as Futile Gesture points out, stupid).

#7

I think the replies are too harsh; * hiring* only young white males is racist.

Preferentially chosing young white male clerks is not (although after my experience last night, I will agree with ‘stupid’).

We all prefer to deal with people similar to ourselves; the visual cues of age, gender, and probable ethnicity are the easiest and most obvious ones by which to evaluate a stranger.

They are also the least meaningful. But the OP is very young, and may not have enough experience to appreciate this.

Furthermore, paying for gasoline is essentially a boring experience; shaving about a minute of the time it takes will not improve the experience much, but listening to an unusual accent or observing how even minor cultural differences can color even the most mundane interaction might be enjoyable or interesting.

I sentence Meeko to using the clerk LEAST like himself once a day for a month.

#8

No, it can be part of a highly rational strategy, which, in his case, seems to have been informed by past experience.

#9

:rolleyes: But, in most cases, it is not as likely to find a white employee having trouble with the language as a Mexican/black one. Again, this factor is just one in a potentially valid statistical model (validity depending on the situation).

#10

Read: http://www.nationalreview.com/09oct95/feature.html.

(Note, I do not agree with his conclusion, and points could be made about the way he gets there, but the argument is interesting.)

#11

What if he had observed that in that store, he had language problems with a significantly larger percentage of non-whites than whites? It would suggest racism, but if he simply makes the choices, based on the information available, that get his shopping done the quickest, is that really racism?

It may suggest racism - a lot of people use that argument as justification when they actually are racist ie. assuming a non-white can’t speak as good english, or screening out non-whites hiring for a job where communicating effectively is necessary, where it’s sensible to take the time to check who can and can’t. But I don’t know that if actually makes him racist.

#12

First off, institutional and cultural racism exist. We were all socialized in a way that included racial stereotypes and prejudices, and that includes non-whites as well.

Second, it depends on what you are thinking at the time. I personally would and will select someone who I think will have a grasp of the language (here in the Bay Area that often means picking an African-American instead of an Asian) in a clerk-customer situation. This is because it irritates me profoundly when I’m trying to order a sandwich or rent a car or something and I’m having difficulty understanding the clerk, or they’re having difficulty understanding me. Is there racism in there somewhere? Perhaps. But it is also a situation where I want to understand and be understood, particularly where money is changing hands.

Now, here’s where the racism part comes in. If I think, I’m going to head to the clerk who looks American-born because I stand a better chance of having a smooth transaction, there is a little cultural racism in there, because I am assuming that Asian or Latino person is a recent immigrant.

But, unless I’m thinking “goddamn (racial expletive), can’t speak no English, go back where you came from,” I’m not being racist, meaning I’m not making the choice to denigrate or feel superior to the person who doesn’t speak English well.

If one pays attention to the instances of cultural racism that occur, and truly attempts to change those thoughts and patterns we all assimilated just by being human and growing up in the company of other humans, in everyday life (wanting a clerk who speaks English not included), one is doing his or her best to not be racist, and should be commended. If one blindly accepts the stereotypes and prejudices that one has assimilated, one could be called racist.

Longwinded, sorry.

#13

Asking the question here is silly. You know they’re going to call you a racist. :smiley:
What would I do? Find the person I can understand the best; I have some high-frequency hearing loss and that makes listening in crowds a pain.

#14

If I have a choice, I’ll often make an extra effort to be served or waited on by the foodserverperson with the more impressive decolletege. I guess I should just face the fact that I’m a boobist.

#15

Business transactions are still human interactions. And I doubt that whatever you have to do is so gosh-darn important that you can’t possibly risk that exta minute talking to someone.

If you were at a bar, would it be okay to only chat with white people because you don’t want to risk wasting your time with someone who might be hard to talk to? If you were contracting a company, would it be cool to only consider ones led by white people for that reason? If someone came up to you on the street, would it be cool to ignore them if they wern’t white? Would you request that your HMO only send you to white doctors? To only get into taxi cabs driven by white people Of course not- and just because we are dealing with service workers doesn’t bow you out of the social obligation to treat people decently. Unless your an ambulance driver with a dieing patient in the back, I think you can handle the extra few minutes every once in a while it may cost to talk to a non-white person every once in a while.

That said, I don’t think the problem here is racism. I think it’s more along the lines of thinking that you are so much more important than whoever your dealing with that can treat them less like a human and more like a machine.

#16

Business transactions are still human interactions. And I doubt that whatever you have to do is so gosh-darn important that you can’t possibly risk that exta minute talking to someone.

If you were at a bar, would it be okay to only chat with white people because you don’t want to risk wasting your time with someone who might be hard to talk to? If you were contracting a company, would it be cool to only consider ones led by white people for that reason? If someone came up to you on the street, would it be cool to ignore them if they wern’t white? Is it cool to request that your HMO only send you to white doctors? To only get into taxi cabs driven by white people? Of course not- and just because we are dealing with service workers doesn’t bow you out of the social obligation to treat people decently. Unless your an ambulance driver with a dieing patient in the back, I think you can handle the extra few minutes every once in a while it may cost to talk to a non-white person every once in a while. And avoiding someone because of their skin color is not treating someone decently.

That said, I don’t think the problem here is racism. I think it’s more along the lines of thinking that you are so much more important than whoever your dealing with that can treat them less like a human and more like a machine.

#17

Business transactions are still human interactions. And I doubt that whatever you have to do is so gosh-darn important that you can’t possibly risk that exta minute talking to someone.

If you were at a bar, would it be okay to only chat with white people because you don’t want to risk wasting your time with someone who might be hard to talk to? If you were contracting a company, would it be cool to only consider ones led by white people for that reason? If someone came up to you on the street, would it be cool to ignore them if they wern’t white? Is it cool to request that your HMO only send you to white doctors? To only get into taxi cabs driven by white people? Of course not- and just because we are dealing with service workers doesn’t bow you out of the social obligation to treat people decently. Unless your an ambulance driver with a dieing patient in the back, I think you can handle the extra few minutes every once in a while it may cost to talk to a non-white person every once in a while. And avoiding someone because of their skin color is not treating someone decently.

That said, I don’t think the problem here is racism. I think it’s more along the lines of thinking that you are so much more important than whoever your dealing with that can treat them less like a human and more like a machine.

#18

And, as such, is racist. It’s that damn duck again!

#19

i just go to anyone, regardless of colour. however, if the language barrier is a bitch, i just remember i live in an english-speaking country, therefore i shouldnt feel embarassed. after all, i’m not in their country unable to speak their language. gotta say tho that most of the time there are no problems :slight_smile:

#20

Poor OP. Didn’t you know that all young white males from Georgia are racist, Meeko?

Just kidding. No, you’re not racist. It’s like what j66 said: people seek out those who are like them. It’s not like you’re looking at the foreign people and going “those damn (racial slur), they shoulda been finished off in (insert war here)” or anything nutty like that.