Discrimination happens in our everyday life. It is unfortunate, but it does happen. I had to think a little while to actually come up with something that I have witnessed. I lived in Monroe, Louisiana for a few years when I was very young. Even though it was in the early 1990's my family noticed a lot of discrimination towards African-Americans. When I went back to visit in the early 2000's, I still noticed this going on at certain places, mainly restaurants. I will share one example that I witnessed. I was at a fast food restaurant and I had a coupon to use. I am not sure what it was for, I want to say it was for buy one, get one free. Well, many people waiting to pay had these coupons. I went up to buy whatever it was, and I paid for one and got the second free. Now, as I was waiting for my food, an African-American male walked up to the register to pay. (All the employees were white). When this man presented the coupon, the person taking the money said that the coupon was expired and that it could not be used. So, the man told the employee the expiration date was still valid. No matter what he said, the employee would not budge. The manager came over and told the guy the same thing! What bullshit. I was standing there in disbelief. Many of the other patrons did not have a problem with what had just happened. I am guessing that town was still very racist. Anyways, the man had tears coming down his face as he stepped away from the counter. He was not upset up not getting the sandwich free. As a matter of fact, he didn't give a shit about getting anything free. It was the principal of it. It was that he was discriminated against because of the color of his skin. As the man walked out, he said under his breath, "It is a shame that a human is treated different, to this day, due to the color of his skin."
I left that restaurant angry. What had happened was not fair. In my mind, it was bullshit. I wanted to go off on all the people there. But, ya know what, I am happy that guy stood up for himself. I am glad he put up a fight. It is an absolute shame that people are still discriminated against, to this day. We are all people. We are all human. What does the color of one's skin matter in the big scheme of things? Nothing.
I hope you guys found this story interesting. It is completely true, and still makes me mad to this day because I know that it is happening to other people in other places.
Eric
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i do not know how i would have responded in that situation, it about broke me down into tears just reading it. but i know that company would no longer have my business. that is complete ignorance. i have argued on some other posts that some stereotypes are essential and that these bias just represent the survival of the fittest but in no way does story exemplify what point i was trying to make. i mean we should all be sympathetic for the human race. i do not believe that color is the issue to me, but rather the body language being exerted.
ReplyDeleteThis is heart breaking. I don’t understand how an employee and let alone a manager could act that way. I know that in my post that I mentioned prejudices that occur in the restaurant that I work at, but never is someone denied service. Sure some attitudes are different but if someone says can I get mustard, you get mustard. To openly deny someone something just because of the color of their skin is not only sick but against the law. That man should have taken them to court. He would have won and a lot more than just a free sandwich. Unless that coupon said “black customers are exempt from this promotion” then by law he was entitled to get the free sandwich. I am a believer that everyone is entitled to have their own opinions about people, even if I don’t agree, but once those opinions are classified as discrimination I am completely against it. This is something that should never of happened.
ReplyDeleteIf i was there i would have sticken up for that guy. If he had a cupoun and it was still good and they said it was expired and it wasn't that's a bunch of shit. He should have called the cops. The racism should have ended just because he/ was not a certain skin color doesn't mean he should of recieved different services than all of the other customers. If the cupoun was actually expired that would be a different story but to lie about it just so he couldn't use is wrong. I wish rasism would stop and everyone would treat each other the same
ReplyDeleteSo you think he should have called the cops? In the community that I was in, very racist, it probably would have just caused more problems to be honest. While that is sad, it there are still towns around the United States that are extremely racist. If the cops would have come, I would guess that they probably would have found some bullshit reason to take the man to jail. Just a guess...
ReplyDeleteThat is super lame. I can believe it still happens, but it still sucks. I don't think that the seperation of race will ever go away. We have made some serious steps forward, but it seems almost too big an issue. I don't know why people can't get past color or ethnicity, but that is how its been. I think in some way it is bred into us. Coming from small middle-America I found myself, not wiht hate, but prejudice that had to be overcome. Its not that people areout commiting hate crimes all the time, but it is the small stuff like this that is going to be hard to overcome in this nation.
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