So, a few years back, I worked briefly with a woman in San Diego. We have been "friends" on Facebook, although IRL, we were never much more than acquaintances. Apparently, this week, she and her fiance have been driving across the country. So, this morning, I checked my FB, and her latest status update was, "Lock up yo kids, lock up yo wife...staying in a ghetto motel outside of...(a city in the south)...I think driving 20 hours straight would have been a safer option..."
Ok...anyone who knows me knows that I am not someone who takes things too seriously. I have a sense of humor. But this status update hit me really hard. Made me want to cry, actually. This person was not mocking a southern accent, or being a redneck, or whatever. She was clearly mocking what she thinks black people who live in "the ghetto" sound, and act like. I looked over at my beautiful daughter who was eating her breakfast, and I thought, how many people are going to look at her and make certain assumptions about her, just because of the color of her skin? It makes me sick that these stupid stereotypes are being perpetuated over and over again. In 2011.
Maybe you're thinking I'm making too much of this. In fact, I might have thought that 4 years ago, before I adopted my daughter. But I was so upset after reading that stupid status update. It just felt like a stab in my heart, because it was so offensive to my daughter, and to me. I'm probably not explaining myself very well. All I know is that I "unfriended" this person. And I felt better after.
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