Week 6- The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

Robin C. Miller                                                                                               EDUC-6164

Blog – Week 6

            One of my most recent memories I experienced not very long ago was an incident based on prejudice. I was walking into a store one afternoon with my partner, whom is African American, and as we walked past the entrance of the store towards the aisles a female that was cashing out made a very rude and offensive remark as soon as she seen us. She turned around and said, “Oh my God! Really, that’s the mess I’m talking about! Why is he with the White B!t@h and not with someone like me?” My heart dropped because I automatically knew that the remark was towards me. As I ignored her comment, she got even louder as we both moved towards the back of the store to continue our shopping despite her ignorance. She than began to speak about why she was better than me, how I couldn't offer him anything, how stupid he was for trading on his own race, how I wasn't anything but White trash and I should be with my own kind. The foul language and hurtful words that kept coming out of her mouth was very upsetting that made every emotion and feeling run through my body.

            I wanted to remain calm and ignore her but, as she became louder and more obscene my emotions overwhelmed me and as I was getting ready to confront the woman about her issue with me her girlfriend helped to remove her from the store and from making an even bigger fool of herself. The sad thing is this woman was younger than I was and had her child in the stroller the entire time. When I seen the child I knew then that it wasn't my place to approach her about the issue because if she didn't respect herself or her child enough not to look like an complete idiot in front of at least I could respect the child. I would never put a child in harm’s way. Confronting the woman could have caused so much chaos that would have affected the child. I am better than that, and my profession and love for children go above and beyond somebody else’s hate and jealousy towards me.

            This incident was solely based on prejudice towards race. It caused me to feel inadequate as she used both micro-assault and micro-invalidation towards making me feel as if my race wasn't good enough to date outside of my own culture. It made me feel like my race didn't matter and the only race that did matter was the African American race. I was more than hurt. I was upset, disarrayed, confused, angry, embarrassed, and crushed. This is only one incident I have experienced. I experience issues such as this all the time. I am actually still going through a more personal incident that I feel is based on race that is affecting my everyday life. I believe that the only way this incident could have turned into an opportunity for greater equity is if someone, either myself or someone else, would help this woman understand that I am no different than her. My skin color might be different but I bleed, walk, talk, work, and live just like everyone else. My skin color doesn't make me insignificant to hers. I would have made it an opportunity for her to learn that it’s not the color of your skin that matter it’s about your character and how you carry yourself and she wasn't carrying herself as a lady.