Rambling About Racism

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…I was helping a patron the other day, who happened to be of Arabic descent. He approached the counter aggressively, rudely demanded a computer, and then, when he learned there were none available, he asked me “isn’t this a Public Library?” in an accusatory tone, with the clear insinuation that I was treating him, and him alone, unfairly. I told him yes it was, but he would have to wait like everyone else. He stormed off in a huff, left, then came back and waited. Later he complained about the price of printing and snatched the prints from my hand.

…Why did he do this? Well, it takes two people to have a conversation. I’m a pretty sensitive guy – I’m certainly hardened from years of dealing with a variety of people, I’m well-travelled, and very open minded. But as soon as this guy approached me, I could tell he was a jerk, and I treated him like a jerk. I spoke to him with a tone of impatience and distrust. The patron’s escalating anger was no doubt due to his standard jerkish nature and/OR his bad day, and my treatment of him, which he seemed to interpret as racism.

…So, this person, who comes from a culture which typically speaks with other males in close contact, probably thought I was some racist white asshole, and I thought he was some prick having a bad day who was used to treating others with disrespect. I do not believe in the mantra “the customer is always right,” I believe that is a horrible creation of the horrible service economy, the partial function of which is to give wage slaves a feeling of empowerment by bossing around and being served by pandering ‘underlings’ e.g. staff of the store, or, in some peoples’ conceptions, the library. In general, I approach patrons with a friendly tone that expresses mutuality, personableness and humour. I am a citizen, you are a citizen, we are enacting an exchange as equals. It is not an economic exchange, it is an exchange involving my service, to provide you with knowledge, pleasure, or entertainment, virtually free of charge. I am not trying to trick you, I am there to help you out – but only if you treat me with the respect I deserve.

…And that is how society should function. But society does not function this way so much, these days. While in my case, around 95% percent of the patrons I deal with at the very least find my approach reasonable, I am aided by it being a small town, my workplace having a lot of ‘regulars,’ and the fact that I am providing a service with little received in return. Outside my workplace, you have people serving people for goods and services which involve direct financial exchanges, and where there’s money, there’s a problem…

…But I digress. .. I pride myself on my general feeling of equality, and general lack of concern about what colour someone is, or accent they speak, other than the novelty value and possibly my thinking myself inferior to them (e.g. I automatically like most Asian people and almost bat my eyelashes at them). But when someone of a different race approaches me in any area of my life, I am faced with a tremendously difficult social interaction, as evidenced by my first example with the Arabian fellow. These thoughts run through my head: Wow, neat, someone from wherever they are from! Cool, a Black person! OK, I’ve got to be careful not to offend them.. OK I have to be careful to treat them equally, I have to be very nice to them without seeming to treat them too nicely or patronize them, How am I looking at them? Are they offended? Ahhh!

…Because we are a so-called ‘multicultural society,’ we, as Canadians, must deal with these interracial interactions on a fairly frequent basis, particularly in places like Ontario and BC; but in places where you still don’t see too many visible minorities, it can be a struggle. I find myself worrying so much about how they perceive me, and I find I am so concerned with them and how they see ‘us,’ I will be extra nice to them and go out of my way to make them feel at home. But this violates my views on equality, and could be like holding open the door and going ‘ladies first,’ and so on to a feminist!

…Racism, is something I’ve always hated – which is ironic. And its presence in our history, and even today, can make life difficult. In addition to racism itself being bad, its existence sullies our interactions, as its always there, in the back of our minds, clouding our judgement. “Was that person being racist towards me?” “Wow, that person is really living up to his/her sterotypes,” “I have to be nice to this jerk just to show I am not a racist,” etc.

…This is a problem that may disappear eventually, due to the shrinking of the earth and hundreds of years of interbreeding and culture milieu. But at the moment, particularly in parts of the Western world (e.g. Turkish immigration to Europe) it is a huge problem, as cultures clash and Racism rears its ugly head.

…In the mean time, I guess it all boils down to the simple fact that, in every culture and society there are jerks and non-jerks. Most people, in every place, are not jerks. Many cultures approach many things differently, which, when unfamiliar, can be interpreted as being rude or offensive (e.g. the French ), but predominantly, in standard daily situations not involving philosophically challenging ethical choices, most people are good. My evidence for this are my experiences travelling across Europe and Turkey, my experience hosting dozens of travelers, my experience dealing with thousands of people through service industry jobs, college and friends, and my observations in the media (e.g. the many good or neutral things that actually happen in the news, versus the few bad things which are often trumpeted).

…Everybody is different, everybody is flawed, and everybody – while ultimately out for their own best interests – is good at birth. Almost everybody is good. So, fuck racism, and lets all (me included) try to follow the words of the good Dr. King, and judge people by the content of their character, and not by the colour of their skin.