Another Stupid Gringa

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Ceguera

My partner and I were talking about stereotypes the other day and she told me about an upsetting experience she had in college. L was born in Honduras, grew up in Brooklyn, and went to college in a predominantly white, affluent community. At the beginning of her freshman year, she secured a work-study job in one of the college's administrative offices. After the first few weeks, a woman who had been working in the office for several years asked L how she liked the position. L told her that she was enjoying it, and the woman commented, “Yeah, keeps you off the streets, right?” L looked at her quizzically and thought to herself, “Why would I be on the streets?” It took her a minute to realize that the woman saw L’s hair and skin and had made narrow, biased assumptions about her life. Perhaps the worst part of this story is that the woman believed she was being compassionate and understanding. Oh, ignorance.

3 Comments:

Blogger Gael said...

Are you sure that was a racist comment? In my experience (I'm now in only my third job as a student, so that experience is a bit limited), it's what people say to any student who expresses any kind of opinion about their job!

6:14 PM  
Blogger ASG said...

Point taken-I can't be sure since I wasn't there and I don't know that woman personally. I think, however, that because my co-worker was one of few minority students on campus, and her position in a work-study job implied a lower socioeconomic status, I don't think that woman meant it as a general statement. But your point is interesting because as I wrote, I don't think she "thought" she was being racist; I imagine she thought she was just stating a fact. I think that's the difficult thing about racism and prejudice--sometimes what people really think is not what they would express if asked directly, but they are not necessarily fully aware of that.

p.s. i love that you visit my blog!

11:08 PM  
Blogger Gael said...

Hey, well, I love visiting your blog!

I've been wondering, what is the difference between social work and, say, counselling or psychology? I'd guess that they're way different but I don't know in what aspects they differ.

10:07 PM  

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