Every weekday morning before I step into my office, I take a deep breath. I work for a small business and the majority of the time, it’s just me and my co-worker. My office environment is extremely stressful. My co-worker constantly makes just plain ignorant remarks regarding everything from race to history. It’s gotten to the point where sometimes, the only way I can get through my day is to ignore her altogether.
Complaining to the owners of the business would not do any good. She is foolish, and therefore they consider her harmless. (They’re also passive/aggressive with her, a story for another day.) She’s nice enough, I’m just appalled that a person could reach the age of fourty and just be so…
At first, I tried to educate her. Not all brown people are immigrants. Having a foreign accent does not mean a person is not a United States Citizen. France and Italy are two different countries with different cultures and languages. (Seriously.) Eventually, I figured out that she was either too dense, or just not interested in gaining the kind of knowledge I was offering. I guess it’s easier to cling to stereotypes than to learn something true. :-/
The scariest thing is that she is raising children. And my children will grow up and maybe one day have to be around (but I hope not) kids raised in homes like this. That’s what bothers me most. Here is a woman, a mother, not interested in gaining knowledge and learning truths about the things in her daily life, so that she can pass that knowledge on to her own kids. It’s just not something I’ve ever encountered before.
I know this is somewhat of a mean rant, but being around someone like that really takes a toll. KWIM? It’s the first time I’ve truly experienced what huge gaps there can be when it comes to race, culture, and education in this country. Yes, I’ve experienced racism and have dealt with ignorance, but not like this. And definitely not in a work setting!
In a lot of ways, I find Virginia to be quite more Southern than Texas. That’s interesting to me. Why yes, sociocultural anthropology is an interest of mine. How did you know? 