'It seemed harmless:' What I did by doing nothing
Karen Collins
Issue date: 6/23/09 Section: Opinion
We're living in exciting times. The United States has elected its first African-American president and now there is much anticipation at the prospect of the third female and first ever Latina Supreme Court justice. It might appear that Americans have accepted diversity as a national standard. But not so fast.
No major event ever happens without a few jokes and comments that have at least a hint of racism to them. It isn't just late-night talk show hosts, either.
If the comments aren't culturally motivated, they may be geared toward the elderly, specific religious groups, sexual orientations-the list is extensive. Equally disturbing are the subtle ways in which people engage in stereotyping others without even being aware of it.
Several years ago, while working for a large law firm in the Southwest, I sat with co-workers in the break room. Someone told a dumb joke, the kind of joke that just makes the listener groan. It wasn't a funny joke, but a couple of people at the table chuckled.
I said nothing.
Most of us just sat there. It seemed harmless. It wasn't an out-and-out racist joke, but it contained an innuendo. The teller of the joke had never demonstrated any racial bias, so no one reminded her that it really wasn't in good taste.
That moment of indecisiveness earned everyone at the table a free trip to the Human Resources Director's office and a lecture. We weren't strangers to such matters. Mandatory ethics training was an annual occurrence for the firm's employees. The trip to the HR office was a humiliating reminder of what happens when we take a break from awareness.
Kimberly Roppolo, assistant professor of English at the University of Oklahom and national director of Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers, recognizes this type of unmindful behavior.
In an essay titled "Symbolic Racism, History, and Reality: The Real Problem with Indian Mascots," she says: "The average American engages in this behavior without ever being aware of it, much less realizing that it is racism."
No major event ever happens without a few jokes and comments that have at least a hint of racism to them. It isn't just late-night talk show hosts, either.
If the comments aren't culturally motivated, they may be geared toward the elderly, specific religious groups, sexual orientations-the list is extensive. Equally disturbing are the subtle ways in which people engage in stereotyping others without even being aware of it.
Several years ago, while working for a large law firm in the Southwest, I sat with co-workers in the break room. Someone told a dumb joke, the kind of joke that just makes the listener groan. It wasn't a funny joke, but a couple of people at the table chuckled.
I said nothing.
Most of us just sat there. It seemed harmless. It wasn't an out-and-out racist joke, but it contained an innuendo. The teller of the joke had never demonstrated any racial bias, so no one reminded her that it really wasn't in good taste.
That moment of indecisiveness earned everyone at the table a free trip to the Human Resources Director's office and a lecture. We weren't strangers to such matters. Mandatory ethics training was an annual occurrence for the firm's employees. The trip to the HR office was a humiliating reminder of what happens when we take a break from awareness.
Kimberly Roppolo, assistant professor of English at the University of Oklahom and national director of Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers, recognizes this type of unmindful behavior.
In an essay titled "Symbolic Racism, History, and Reality: The Real Problem with Indian Mascots," she says: "The average American engages in this behavior without ever being aware of it, much less realizing that it is racism."
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