On Fri, I was coming into work when I heard yet another comment on the Henry Louis Gates thing. You remember, that story that went down last month about a black professor getting arrested in his own home by a white police officer? And then President Obama unfortunately commented on it during his big health care speech. I thought it was all over, and that everyone had made nice with a beer at the White House a couple of weeks ago. Because you know, nothing ends racial strife like a beer. Though I personally would have assumed a few more would be necessary. You know, after about 15 beers, people stop seeing color anyway, right?
Anyway, this time, it was a perspective by a local civil rights attorney, who I gathered is black. Or African-American? What's PC these days? Anyway, he noted that the whole incident was just typical of being black in America. Being pulled over for no reason, searched without cause, all these things were daily occurences for your average black man.
But hearing him talk about this, I started to feel the uncomfortable feeling that I always feel when I hear people sounding off on this subject. Really, does everything have to be about race? Why can't the Gates incident (or other similar incidents) be exactly what it seems. A neighbor hears some one trying to break into a home; calls the cops; guy gets a little belligerent; the cop gets fed up and arrests him. Honestly, when I first heard what happened, that's exactly what I assumed it was. I hate that we assign racial motivations to EVERYTHING. Is that just me being naïve? And is it bad that after everything that's been reported on the event, I'm still inclined to read it for what it seems like. Without any evidence to the contrary, why start seeing boogie men around every corner?
Maybe it has something to do with my own upbringing. For my dad, it was always about race. So the attitude isn't a new one for me. Or unique to African Americans. Growing up, if my dad's luggage got searched at the airport, it must have been because he was brown. He didn't get a promotion? Of course not, when there were other white guys that wanted it also. I remember we got pulled over once. We were all in the car. And I guess my dad was driving too slowly. Of course it was because we were brown. Never mind that we were caravaning with friends (also Indian, but driving the speed limit), and they didn't get pulled over. So I think I started to develop a distaste for what seemed to be nothing more than conspiracy theories.
This isn't to say, however, that racism never exists. For example, there was a particularly heinous incident a couple of years ago where a couple attacked an Indian man and his friends in Lake Tahoe. It was very definitely racially motivated -- the couple called them "Indian sluts and whores" and accused them of being related to Osama bin Laden. And then the lady held the man down while her husband kicked him. The case dragged on in court for a while, and then the Superior Court decided to drop the hate crime enhancements that the couple had initally been charged with. Fortunately, the Attorney General's offices decided to pursue a federal indictment, including hate crime enhancements. It was a huge deal, particularly in the South Asian Bar community. So of course racism happens. But I just hate to look for it under every bush.
And I'm not even saying that when it happens, it has to be something big like the Tahoe incident. I bet it happens everyday, in all kinds of ways, big and small. But I just wonder how people live with the constant outrage. Doesn't it get draining after a while? And at what point do you start to lose focus so that you can't even tell the difference between random unfortunate events and a racial injustice?
Actually, the whole Gates incident reminded me of my own run in with the cops a few years ago. I was visiting my parents in Oregon, and sleeping in as I usually do. It must have been about 9 in the morning. My parents had left for work or where it is they were going. I wasn't even sure at the time. And all of a sudden the doorbell rings. I never answer the door at my parents' house. The last time I had - also in the morning, and also when I had been asleep -- it was a couple of Jehovah's Witnesses that seemed surprised when I shut the door in their face and went back to bed. The were my family's regular Jehovah's visitors, because my parents didn't have the heart to tell them that they would never in a million years convert. So they came, month after month, with the hopes of releasing my parents from their heathen existence. In fact, I believe they were in the middle of telling me how well they knew my family (and rattling off my brothers' names) when I shut the door. But that's another story for a different day.
Anwyay, I ignored the door, until I heard, "Police! Open the door!" So I dragged myself out of bed and opened the door. Turns out that some one in our house had dialed 911, and they were responding! I had to tell them that I had no idea what was up, but definitely I wasn't in any danger. I tried to find some one else at home, but it was at that point that I realized everyone was gone. The officers assured themselves that everything was ok. And then one of them said, "Are you sure maybe that some one didn't dial 911 by mistake? Maybe when they were trying to dial an international call?" Um, maybe, I don't know. But I remember my feeling of outrage (well, not really, I was still half asleep). But how dare they, right? How dare they assume that just because we were foreign that of course we must have been dialing an international call, and of course, we didn't know how to use the phone? I remember telling a friend the story later that morning and saying exactly that. The officers gave me a little lecture - my parents should be more careful, and if they do dial 911 by mistake, they should stay on the line and explain instead of hanging up. So there it was, racism rearing its ugly head, at my front door, no less! No doubt its incidents like this that have people like Gates up in arms. Though I guess he got arrested, so the stories aren't at all simiar.
Plus, when my parents got home, I heard their side of their story. Which was this: they didn't know what had happened, but they had been dialing India and must have misdialed. The India country code is 9-1, so they must have dialed another 1 by accident. Doh! So is it still a racial stereotype if it ends up being true?
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