Fifty three years ago on August 28th, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous "I Have A Dream" speech. Well, I have a dream, too. That dream is similar to the end of his speech which was "all of God's children" be able to join hands. Equality for all, that's my dream.
I've experienced racism in my lifetime which I'm sure or at least hope would shock and saddened Dr. King Jr. to learn about it. I learned about racism and bullying from bullies on the playground during recess at elementary school, and later from a Starbucks employee.
In elementary school, racism was a daily occurrence, too. Or at least whenever the lead bully was attending school. I can imagine he was being abused at home. However, I'm only guessing. Who knows? Maybe he was born with asshole DNA, which I highly doubt that early in childhood because I'm thinking it was learned behavior?
I digress.
Please imagine the scene. Mountlake Terrace Elementary has a ginormous rock that was never removed from the school grounds. Mostly, because the sheer weight and dimensions didn't make it logistically possible. Plus it's one of many reasons that made that school unique. The words Friendship Rock were spray painted on it in white. However, it was anything but "friendly". For safety reasons, it was forbidden to be climbed on, and it shadowed many a playground fight from the watchful eye of Mrs. Jones, the playground teacher who issued detentions (no joke!) At any rate, Bully X, would seek out myself or my Vietnamese friend, Nho Vo.
He would seek us out on the playground, but have his buddies corral us to Friendship Rock. He was a solid 20 pounds heavier, and an inch or two taller than us, and had a massive superiority complex that he cultivated. He would call me / him / us brown people, a poop people, or shit people, that wasn't worthy of being on the same playground as him and his white brethren. They would antagonize us into fights that for the most part we lost by sheer numbers and strength.
But we stood our ground, back to back, as our attackers closed in on us like a pack of wolves. Nho Vo would use his martial arts skills, while I used my straight up brawling skills. Every once in awhile we would win the day by defeating them and watch them retreat. Or we would get a reprieve by their absence from school that day or they didn't want fight that day and left us alone.
This wouldn't follow us to middle school. Or at least I can only say this for myself. The world-wide, nation-wide call for unity was spearheaded by the song release in 1985 of "We Are The World". I would literally live almost 20 years before encountering racism again.
At the time of that story I had started working at AAA Washington in the Express Travel Center within the corporate office in Bellevue's Bellefield Office Park. I was invited to be a "representative" at the AAA Congress that year while it was hosted in Atlanta, GA. I jumped at the chance to travel, regardless of the location and/or the work involved.
On the first morning, I was so amped that I was awake before the catering service had an opportunity to set up and serve coffee in the convention area. The hotel (Hyatt, I believe) was in the heart of downtown Atlanta so I assumed that a coffeehouse of some sort was serving coffee nearby and at this hour. As I exited the hotel, my eyes landed on a Starbucks. Awesome, I thought, as I have a few minutes to complete this. So I walked over with great anticipation a beautiful smelling coffee, and exceptional service.
I received neither.
I entered the store, and observed only one worker, a young, black woman, milling about the drip coffee machines with her back to me. As I approached the counter to order, I stated, "Hello, good morning." She didn't acknowledge my statement. I repeated myself, with the same no-response response.
I was dumbfounded. Maybe she was deaf, so I didn't wanna assume, as I continued to wait there by the counter. Literally a minute later, although it seemed longer in my mind and with the writing of the story, another patron arrived. Or I assumed a friend, or co-worker / friend. The black Starbucks worker instantly turned around as she yelled out, "Oh, girl. How is it this morning?"
Her friend replied with the same lively banter, as she waltzed up next to me, almost brushing me aside to tender her coffee order all the while ignoring my existence in the store! After the worker handed over the coffee, I looked at her, and asked, "Are you going to serve me today?" She didn't even look at me, turned on her heel and walked away.
That was my answer. And that answer was "no". In fact it was a "Hell, no. Not today, not any day!". For the simple fact of the color of my skin, or my gender. I'll never know. What I do know, is that was racism in it's purest, hateful, ignorant form.
I was mad, I wanted to take action. As I spied my watch, I simply didn't have time for this mess, and had to return to the hotel for the start the day's sessions. That also eliminated the possibility of locating another coffeehouse that would serve me.
As I sat down to take notes and actively be engage with AAA training, I stared hard at the porcelain cup of stark white color, holding jet-black coffee. That's irony for you. My perceived whiteness can co-exist with black. Of course, the experience gnawed at me which was largely distracting and easily noticed by my co-workers.
I explained the experience to my team, as I've just done some twenty years later to y'all. They were upset for me. They encouraged me to report this to Starbucks Corporate, to get her name, and the store number, and manager, etc. My answer to their pleas sounded like a justified excuse for racism, that since we're in the South, racism exists still despite many people's work to dispel it.
But my main thought was at the time, and even now, it's not my job to educate someone on Dr King's dream that doesn't want to be. It was painfully clear she was a racist, at the very least prejudice, therefore couldn't be reasoned with. I surmised in my mind, that the best I would receive is a letter of apology along with a gift card to enjoy at a local Starbucks which was void of racism (?), and an explanation that the behavior is not indicative of Starbuck's Service Standards so the employee will be spoken to about that.
No. Hell, no. Not today, not any day, would that be acceptable to me. I want her to love all God's children as we join hands, but knew I couldn't force her to do this, as no one would be able to. I had a dream, too, that night. That equality would be everyone all the time, and around the world.
Then I woke up, and realized it's just a dream. Dreams are not reality, despite what life coaches, motivational speakers, and motivation posters tell you.
One can always dream, right? Dr. Martin Luther King Jr did, and look what happened for him!
So Seattle, and Spaceship Earth, have you experienced racism, prejudice, or discrimination like I have? Or worse? Or more recently than 1998? I am encouraging you to find the strength to speak about it, or at least comment about this post.
Until next week, be good like you should, and if you can't be good, be good at what you do!
Mic drop *bOoM*
'los; out
I've experienced racism in my lifetime which I'm sure or at least hope would shock and saddened Dr. King Jr. to learn about it. I learned about racism and bullying from bullies on the playground during recess at elementary school, and later from a Starbucks employee.
In elementary school, racism was a daily occurrence, too. Or at least whenever the lead bully was attending school. I can imagine he was being abused at home. However, I'm only guessing. Who knows? Maybe he was born with asshole DNA, which I highly doubt that early in childhood because I'm thinking it was learned behavior?
I digress.
He would seek us out on the playground, but have his buddies corral us to Friendship Rock. He was a solid 20 pounds heavier, and an inch or two taller than us, and had a massive superiority complex that he cultivated. He would call me / him / us brown people, a poop people, or shit people, that wasn't worthy of being on the same playground as him and his white brethren. They would antagonize us into fights that for the most part we lost by sheer numbers and strength.
But we stood our ground, back to back, as our attackers closed in on us like a pack of wolves. Nho Vo would use his martial arts skills, while I used my straight up brawling skills. Every once in awhile we would win the day by defeating them and watch them retreat. Or we would get a reprieve by their absence from school that day or they didn't want fight that day and left us alone.
This wouldn't follow us to middle school. Or at least I can only say this for myself. The world-wide, nation-wide call for unity was spearheaded by the song release in 1985 of "We Are The World". I would literally live almost 20 years before encountering racism again.
At the time of that story I had started working at AAA Washington in the Express Travel Center within the corporate office in Bellevue's Bellefield Office Park. I was invited to be a "representative" at the AAA Congress that year while it was hosted in Atlanta, GA. I jumped at the chance to travel, regardless of the location and/or the work involved.
On the first morning, I was so amped that I was awake before the catering service had an opportunity to set up and serve coffee in the convention area. The hotel (Hyatt, I believe) was in the heart of downtown Atlanta so I assumed that a coffeehouse of some sort was serving coffee nearby and at this hour. As I exited the hotel, my eyes landed on a Starbucks. Awesome, I thought, as I have a few minutes to complete this. So I walked over with great anticipation a beautiful smelling coffee, and exceptional service.
I received neither.
I entered the store, and observed only one worker, a young, black woman, milling about the drip coffee machines with her back to me. As I approached the counter to order, I stated, "Hello, good morning." She didn't acknowledge my statement. I repeated myself, with the same no-response response.
I was dumbfounded. Maybe she was deaf, so I didn't wanna assume, as I continued to wait there by the counter. Literally a minute later, although it seemed longer in my mind and with the writing of the story, another patron arrived. Or I assumed a friend, or co-worker / friend. The black Starbucks worker instantly turned around as she yelled out, "Oh, girl. How is it this morning?"
Her friend replied with the same lively banter, as she waltzed up next to me, almost brushing me aside to tender her coffee order all the while ignoring my existence in the store! After the worker handed over the coffee, I looked at her, and asked, "Are you going to serve me today?" She didn't even look at me, turned on her heel and walked away.
That was my answer. And that answer was "no". In fact it was a "Hell, no. Not today, not any day!". For the simple fact of the color of my skin, or my gender. I'll never know. What I do know, is that was racism in it's purest, hateful, ignorant form.
I was mad, I wanted to take action. As I spied my watch, I simply didn't have time for this mess, and had to return to the hotel for the start the day's sessions. That also eliminated the possibility of locating another coffeehouse that would serve me.
As I sat down to take notes and actively be engage with AAA training, I stared hard at the porcelain cup of stark white color, holding jet-black coffee. That's irony for you. My perceived whiteness can co-exist with black. Of course, the experience gnawed at me which was largely distracting and easily noticed by my co-workers.
I explained the experience to my team, as I've just done some twenty years later to y'all. They were upset for me. They encouraged me to report this to Starbucks Corporate, to get her name, and the store number, and manager, etc. My answer to their pleas sounded like a justified excuse for racism, that since we're in the South, racism exists still despite many people's work to dispel it.
But my main thought was at the time, and even now, it's not my job to educate someone on Dr King's dream that doesn't want to be. It was painfully clear she was a racist, at the very least prejudice, therefore couldn't be reasoned with. I surmised in my mind, that the best I would receive is a letter of apology along with a gift card to enjoy at a local Starbucks which was void of racism (?), and an explanation that the behavior is not indicative of Starbuck's Service Standards so the employee will be spoken to about that.
No. Hell, no. Not today, not any day, would that be acceptable to me. I want her to love all God's children as we join hands, but knew I couldn't force her to do this, as no one would be able to. I had a dream, too, that night. That equality would be everyone all the time, and around the world.
Then I woke up, and realized it's just a dream. Dreams are not reality, despite what life coaches, motivational speakers, and motivation posters tell you.
One can always dream, right? Dr. Martin Luther King Jr did, and look what happened for him!
So Seattle, and Spaceship Earth, have you experienced racism, prejudice, or discrimination like I have? Or worse? Or more recently than 1998? I am encouraging you to find the strength to speak about it, or at least comment about this post.
Until next week, be good like you should, and if you can't be good, be good at what you do!
Mic drop *bOoM*
'los; out
Comments
Post a Comment