Beginning
“Race itself is a slippery social concept which is paradoxically both “obvious” and “invisible.”” – writes Michael Omi in his article In Living Color: Race and American Culture (Omi 627). And I cannot but agree with this quotation. In modern world race became an indicator of how one or another should treat a person and provides some clues concerning his or her life, social status. Unfortunately, it can also evoke some stereotypical views and beliefs and create a falls perception of a person.
Nowadays the issue of racial segregation is still number one problem in our multicultural society. From time to time in newspapers and TV pop out different horrible incidents that involve mistreatment of colored people, but, I am more than sure, that there are even more accidents that were not made public. A great amount of people that experienced discrimination are simply afraid to report about such conflicts to higher instances and because of fear of another mistreatment.
Middle
Personally I never was an object of racial discrimination. Being a grown up I feel proud of who I am and never rejected it or was obsessed with it. I think that is because of my upbringing and the values I had in my family. My parent as well as my grandparent since my early kindergarten years taught me to tolerate and respect every person without paying attention to his interests, appearance, physique, social status, gender, religious beliefs and race, of course. That is why, as a child, I never was an instigator of conflicts and tried to avoid them.
But when I moved to the other country, from the beginning, I used to feel insecure about my identity. I noticed a lot of people that were gazing at me in the streets, in a subway, at the supermarkets. I can compare that look with a look of a hunter through the sight on a victim. I felt as if I owed them something. As if I had to thank them for accepting me and giving me an opportunity to live and study in their country. But thanks God, nobody ever pointed out my belonging to another race in a rude way or made me feel insecure and self-conscious. I always had and still have a lot of friends and acquaintance from different cultures. They helped me to adjust to the new culture, its traditions and customs. It is always easier to find a common ground with the people of the same age. Getting to know these people closer helped me to get rid of stereotypes that are imposed to us through the popular culture that has a great influence, especially, on teenagers. Michael Omi notes: “Film and television have been notorious in disseminating images of racial minorities which establish for audiences what these groups look like, how they behave, and, in essence, “who they are.”” (Omi 629) The media is a very powerful source that shapes the ideology of people, especially those, who do not want to deepen in some particular issues on their own. Moreover, media is the main instrument in creating stereotypes and providing visual pictures of them. In such a way they manipulate people’s consciousness and give false impression. It is a much known fact that visual perception and memory is more developed than for example, auditory. Taking this into consideration, the film and television industry have to review the quality of the information they produce and release on the screen for a public display.
I have never witnessed another person being singled out for their identity and race, but there is an example of racial discrimination that I would like to share with you. It was told me by my close friend whose color of the skin is white. She moved to Canada approximately a year and a half ago. At first, she studied at the college there and now she is working as a hostess in one of the most popular and luxurious grill bar in the country located in Ottawa. I prefer not to point out the name of it in terms of privacy. Being an attractive, slim and graceful young lady, she immediately received a job there after a meeting with employer. The first months of work were hard, but enjoyable. She got acquainted with managers, staff and got used to the schedule and discipline. In a couple of conversations she mentioned that among the employees there are some colored people and they are very friendly, positive and help her more than others at the restaurant. Now she works there a half a year already and recently she began to notice some minor incidents that clearly witness the employers’ mistreatment of staff regarding their physique, appearance and race. The grill bar consists of two sections – bar and the area where usually dine families in separate booths, parents with their kids and couples. The waitresses ant hostesses that work in the bar area have to were dresses, nice hairdo and make, in other words to look hot and attractive. In the second area the staff wears jeans and simple shirts and blouses. It is understandable that girls who work at the bar section get a higher salary and of course, more tips. Working in this area is regarded as a promotion and in order to get it a person has to work in the booth section at least a year.
Among the staff there is a girl, who works for the restaurant two years already in a booth zone. She asked managers more than once to give her a promotion and opportunity to work in the bar. But unfortunately they do not consider her as a suitable person for that job because of her race. Naturally, the manager does not say it directly, but the evidences are present. All the girls that work in the bar zone are white. Moreover, even when there is a vacancy there, the employer immediately hires a new attractive white girl without any experience of working in this sphere. Her attempts to talk with the supervisor were to no purpose, as he masterfully avoids giving direct answers to her questions and explaining the reasons of such mistreatment and discrimination. And this girl continues working at the restaurant with the hope that one day she will get a promotion that she earns. Unfortunately, this is not the only example of discrimination that takes place in that restaurant. I understand the managers’ worry about the “face” of their place, but such strict policy is really inappropriate.
As it was already mentioned earlier, my friend works as a hostess. She stands near the entrance, greets the clients and follows them to their tables. She also carries with herself a small walkie-talkie in order to communicate with supervisor and security. Every time a new girl comes to the grill bar to apply for a job my friend has to contact her supervisor and inform him. The very first question he asks: “Is the girl hot?” and then immediately takes an interest in the color of her skin. If the girl is beautiful, my fiend invites her in and if she is not, according to his own preference, he asks just to take her CV and to wait for a call that she, understandably, will never receive. Such treatment offences not only poor girls ,which come to apply, but also my friend. She says that it makes her feel very uncomfortable.
Frankly speaking, these accidents astonished me very much. I always considered Canadians as the most kind, tolerant and lenient nation. Recently Canada was a number one country in accepting Syrian refugees and there are a lot of other national Diasporas within the whole country. I do not want to draw general conclusions and say that all the people living there are prone to racial discrimination, but I still have negative impressions from what I got to know from my friend.
End
It is really sad that nowadays there are such people who are still inclined to discriminate a person because of his or her race. In my opinion, for women it is easier to become a target of discrimination and even more difficult to get over it. The government has to control this issue and design an appropriate punishment for people who were involved in such conflicts. Moreover, in reference to the article In Living Color: Race and American Culture, the government should take under control all the film corporations, publishing houses and television. The monitoring of mass media will definitely help to avoid the planting of stereotypes concerning not only race issues, but also gender and sexuality as integral parts of identity.
Reflection
This accident that I described completely changed my view on racial segregation. As I never experienced such a mistreatment on my own, I never really thought of how discriminated people feel and struggle because of such unfairness. I still cannot get the idea where this hatred towards colored people germinates. In my opinion, the government together with all the people not only in our country, but in the whole world should learn to be tolerant. This quality should be formed as a character feature of every person since their childhood. It will help to avoid such accidents in future and to raise a tolerable nation. Adults should be able to filter all the information from the mass media, believe only credible sources and make rational conclusions. I hope that in the nearest future we will be able to solve this problem and in the world there will be no more place for discrimination of any kind.
Work Cited
Omi, Michael. "In Living Color: Race and American Culture." Signs of life in the USA: readings on popular culture for writers. Sonia Maasik and Jack Solomon. Boston: Bedford, 2015. 625-636. Print.
