We live in a racially sensitive political climate nowadays. Whatever anyone says can be scrutinized in every angle and what they’ve said can either make or break their career. Granted, this happens more often if you were running for office such as *ahem* being the President of the United States but hey, even if you’re not of that ranking, you can still be found guilty of saying some inappropriately racist things.
So, what happens when those people are allowed to say what’s on their mind? Yes, they’re allowed to say those things but then things can get out of hand, just like the violent situations that occurred in Charlottesville, Virginia. Hate-filled speech should be policed and called out, in my opinion.
Some times, the usual suspects are found guilty of such a thing: that guy with the Confederate flag tattoo on his arm (yes, that’s a real person that I’ve seen in Alabama) or those good ol’ boys with their wide-brimmed cowboy hats and cold stares across the restaurant (yes, that’s a real thing I’ve experienced as an Asian-American trying to have dinner in West Texas). Some times, this hate-filled rhetoric can come from the unlikeliest people: that sweet old lady that lives down the street or your boyfriend’s best friend. What do you do then? Some say to be the bigger person and walk away (thanks, dad) and some would give ’em a piece of their mind (I don’t usually listen to my dad, but thanks anyway, dad).
These 23 people witnessed racially insensitive moments:
1.
I worked in a sports store in Atlanta for a while. A white family came in before a Braves game. The son wanted an Andruw Jones jersey. Dad said, “No, he’s black. You’re not wearing a black man’s number.”
2.
I was working in a hardware store as a cashier. A man came in and asked for helping finding gloves. I start walking him over to the section and he goes on to describe what type he want, including the size. He says “I need smaller gloves for my workers. See, these guys have small hands. You and I would call them gooks.” My jaw dropped, and I left him in the gloves section. Being 17, I didn’t really know what to say without getting fired.
3.
Me and my friends went on a road trip to Berkeley at the end of last summer and somewhere in the middle of California we stopped to eat lunch at Taco Bell. It was early in the afternoon, maybe like 1 PM. While we are eating, a black guy comes in and tries to order something. The cashier at the front just looks at him and says “Sorry, we’re closed.” Keep in mind that it’s 1 PM and me and my friends are sitting there eating our lunch. The guy looks really confused but I guess he didn’t think it was worth it to cause a fuss because he just walked out. The worst part is that moments later, a white guy comes in and orders food, no questions asked..
4.
So one day my cousins (I’m white and they’re black) were in town, I took them to meet my friend up the street and as we’re walking up the driveway he’s playing basketball and sees us. “Hey man, where’d you get the n*gger twins?” The part that pissed me off is he had never met them, didn’t know it was family and the part that probably hurt their feelings the most…they actually are twins…brother and sister. So I kicked his a** and was down one less friend. But if that’s the way he saw people before getting to know them I didn’t need him as a friend anyhow.
Irvi Torremoro is an Austinite by way of Las Vegas. She's worked in various outlets in food & beverage and is now focused on writing, eating all the things, talking about Beyonce, and petting all the puppies. She runs flavorandbounty.com, a lifestyle blog about people in the service industry.
