Based on Barack Obama’s comments this week the “typical white person” thinks that an encounter with a person of a different race on the street represents a threatening situation. I guess this means I’m not a typical white person, because I have never had a thought like that. In fact let me share an experience. Two years ago I found myself (along with my wife) walking the streets of downtown Baltimore. We wandered through town looking for photo opportunities without any care in the world except enjoying our time. Then suddenly a black man approached us and asked if we were “from out of town.” I answered in the positive and returned to taking a picture of a building across the road. This same man then made a statement from behind me, “You know, today’s my birthday.” I turned to him and responded cordially, “That’s great, happy birthday.” To which he grabbed my arm and inquired, “Are you going to give me a birthday present?”
OK, pause here at this moment because it was in this instant when I began to get nervous! And no I was not nervous, not even a little, until he grabbed my arm. I was not worried about the fact that he was black. I was not worried about the fact that he was talking to me. I was not even nervous about the fact that he was a stranger well within a normal space bubble (remember he was touching my arm). The problem I had in this situation is when I perceived an actual threat, namely this man’s behavior. I am sorry, but this is where I drew the line and defensive instincts came out. I immediately positioned myself between my wife and the man and motioned to my wife to begin walking away. The man persisted by pulling me towards an open door that he claimed was a “church” and I could “pray for [him]” inside. It felt like a life-threatening situation based on this man’s behavior. I say again, this man’s behavior is what caused my uneasiness, not the color of his skin.
So now take this scenario and look at Barack Obama’s comments this week. Based on Barack Obama’s words, the “typical white person” would feel threatened in this situation because the man was black. Sorry Barack but you just don’t get it. By making a reckless statement like that you are actually perpetuating that perception, not correcting it. I can’t believe millions of Americans think this guy would actually be a good President. I mean this guy is bring up a race issue when the majority of the nation is well beyond it. When do we all get to consider ourselves equal Americans rather than making the color of our skin a political issue? Good grief.
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“Have you looked in a mirror lately? You’re not caucasian nor can you speak for us. Now why don’t you start telling us what the “typical black person” thinks and perhaps your opinion will actually mean something.”
He is more a typical white person than a typical black person. I mean, he is only half black and was not raised in the black community.
Such social biases and what not are a product not of skin color, but the communities in which we were raised and the values they hold.
Your not scared of a black man because you are not a typical white person. First, your from Utah and I’d assume mormon. There are no black people here, your experiences I’d assume have always been positive. Now, had been from Baltimore your experiences would differ. There are also more people in the Baltimore metro area than all of Utah, so their experiences (esp. when coupled with other similar communities) would be more typical than yours.
Seconds, your a mormon (again an assumption), a minor religion in America again suggesting your experiences would not represent the typical white person.
[Sorry for the long delay in response Ray, I found myself enjoying a family vacation]
I find it discouraging that because someone lives in Utah you would instantly assume they are LDS (Mormon). That’s just as bad as assuming that everyone in Massachusetts is Catholic or everyone in Georgia is Baptist. Although I am LDS I have many friends in the area who are not and I am positive they would take offsense at your presumptive thinking.
Regardless, you mention “there are no black people here.” I beg to differ. I had some friends in high school who were and in fact I had a black girlfriend in my youth. Admittedly there are very few blacks in Utah compared to the rest of the nation’s ratios, but again you are presumptive to think that not having a huge black population would simply infer that I am not a typical white person. I am a God-loving, white American who believes all mankind are equal in the sight of God. I would think that any true Christian would have to agree with my philosophy. Am I wrong?
Sorry my delay, I forgot about this…
Any ways I apologize for assuming you were a Mormon. I certainly understand that not everyone in Utah is a Mormon as I was borned and raised here and am not Mormon. That being said, it is the safe bet.
My point about being a “typical white person” (sorry if my writing was not clear I tend to leave comments quickly and seldom take the time to read what I wrote) was not to mean the you do not fit that description but that the definition of such is incredibly vague.
Reguardless, my point about the black population was not to say that there are literalyy no blacks in Utah. Rather, the African-American population is rather different than in Chicago, LA, Oakland, Atlanta, NY, or any other big city. We have no projects, no ghetto (although I know people like to think the west side is a “ghetto”; these people, in my mind, tend to have never seen a real ghetto) and most importantly we don’t have the same history and experience with race relations that other cities have had. These experiences are going to alter the defintiion of a typical white person. Ergo: If you were to grow up in Chicago as an average white person you would of had a unique experience with other races that would not have been experienced in a place such as Utah; it is my belief it was this kind of the typical white person Obama was speaking to.
In regards to Obama, it’s inevitable that there are typical white people who do not fit his view of such. However, it is worth mentioning that he is just as white as he is black and having half his family being white I think gives him some rights to make such inferences about the average white person. (another side note: isn’t it interesting that the media always refers to him as the black child of a white women and not a white child of a black man esp. considering he was raised more in white and asian culture than in black culture).
I agree that a “true christian” sees people as equal in god’s eyes. However, I would argue that many christians do not necessarily hold this view. E.g., many christians believe that one must accept Jesus Christ as their savior to be saved, so no Jews, no Buddhist, no Atheist or agnostics no matter how moral they are. In my mind it is safe to infer from such theological docrine that these people are not seen equal in god’s eyes. To them, I would say, it’s more like Animal Farm: everyone is equal, but some are more equal.
I hope this makes sense. This is an interesting topic to discuss and I hope my arguments (past and present) do not offend as they are meant merely to provoke some thought and discussion.
Sincerly,
Raymond Sebond
gods_an_american[at]hotmail.com
Thanks Ray: I like your points and I have high hopes that a typical Christian would in fact hold all people as equals in the sight of God. But back to the point of my post…. according to Barack Obama I apparently am not a typical white person. Therefore with a simple comment like that it is apparent I am unable to relate to Obama’s point of view at all.