There have been a few experiences but I'll just relate one of them to you that will be representative of the rest, generally speaking!
For most of my life I was a performing musician, playing with various groups or bands, in one of the bands I played in, I was the only Black musician in the band! We played White suburban gigs where there usually werent any Black patrons or very few, like one or two, in the audience! So with the images and history of White racism against Blacks in my Mind, I was expecting a lot of negative feedback in those bars!
On a band break during one of those gigs, I was standing near the bandstand, alone, just observing the crowd, when I saw two guys looking in my direction and periodically, pointing their fingers toward me and then talking among themselves! This kind of ala rmed me because of the aforementioned Attitudes and expectations and because they looked like, to my Mind, the stereotypical redneck Racists Of movies and news reports I'd seen! One was about my height but weighed about 300 pounds with long stringy, oily hair, semi-grimy, t-shirt and jeans! His sidekick was shorter, skinnier, with same hair, t-shirt and jeans. So I was expecting them to try and start some type of ruckus with me because I was the only Black man in an all White bar!
They started walking through the crowd in my direction! I started looking for a chair or something, I could used to hit them over the head with if need be, if they did start something! They finally made their way over to where I was standing and asked what my name was! So to show them that I wasnt intimidated by them I spoke up confidently, El Veasey! Whats yours? They told me their names, and asked where I was from! Following the same pattern I asked them where they were from and we exchanged that information!
I was waiting for them to start trying to create the ruckus but instead they started telling me how much they like the way I played the bass and wanted to know if I and the band would replay a couple of the funk, dance songs we had played earlier! I said sure! I thought theyd want to hear country or rock but, they assured me they didnt like that kind of music! Every time we played that club, they would come in and we'd talk, have a few drinks and lots of fun!
So that was one of the experiences that blow my Mind wide open! Because they looked like the stereotype of one of my worst Racist nightmares coming true in th e flesh! But they turned out to be just the opposite! That taught me not to be so quick to judge people on how they looked or dressed! And also how my preconceived ideas and expectations could cause my Mind to create potentially dangerous reactions in those type of situations!
Im sure that many outbreaks of racial and other Violence has been spark by just these types of preconceptions! What do you think? Ive spilled my guts, now you spill yours! Whether it's positive or negative!
Copyright 2006 El-Veasey Publishing Inc
El-Veasey has PhDs in Psycho-Social Relationships, The History of Human Thought and Religious Politics, from the University of Hard-Knocks, Ghetto Town, USA
Email: elveasey at yahoo.com
Blog1 http://el-veasey.blogspot.com
Blog2 http://lveasey.blogspot.com
Author:: El Veasey
Keywords:: Racist, Prejudice, Violence, White, Black, red neck, Blacks, Stereotypes, Attitudes, Mind
Post by History of the Computer | Computer safety tips
No comments:
Post a Comment