
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
Prejudices
I have been reading a novel centered on a Nigerian woman's experiences immigrating to America and there is a long scene in which African-Americans teaching at Yale and various African friends assess Barack Obama's chances of winning the election because he is black. Since the election one reads political commentary explaining Republican opposition to the president as being largely driven by white hatred of a black man. It always mystifies me because I never think of him as black. He is so Harvard, so upper middle class intellectual, well, really, so Waspy. Michelle, maybe, but the president? My prejudice is bizarre, that's clear. Anyone out of that milieu constitutes a category for me that transcends all others. Another of my irrational prejudices came out as I read in today's Times an article on rethinking the boxes on the census form because "white," for one example is too inclusive. I could not agree more. It was evidently Middle Eastern Muslim immigrants who felt they were lost in the category "white." I feel exactly the same way. I don't like thinking I as a Wasp am just lumped together with the Irish and the Italians and the Jews as a white person when African-Americans can be specifically black and if you speak Spanish and immigrated,say, from Mexico even though your grandfather immigrated into Mexico from Ireland and your name is Murphy you get to put Hispanic. I want to put Wasp where it says other and not check the "white" box. This tiresome rant will have to do for today, Wednesday and the eight days. I have just typed this on my IPad and my chubby arthritic fingers made a mess of the screen keyboard plus I can hardly see the Lilliputian print.
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You made me laugh-as a person that has had to work with population statistics from time to time-your commentary shows the ridiculousness of such categorizations of the human species. Ahhhh- and prejudice and stereotypes-how they comfort each of us in our own way.
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