Dear Friend and Reader,<\/p>\n
AS A PERSON of color in America,\u0412\u00a0I am\u0412\u00a0always aware of vocal tone. Tone in how one is addressed,\u0412\u00a0the\u0412\u00a0volume of the voice,\u0412\u00a0whether its brazen and condescending, or concerned and respectful. In a way, I’m hard-wired when it comes to deciphering what people say to me. Words can sometimes mean something absolutely different from what is actually said. Call it a survival instinct, but I’ve learned living in America that I often need to filter what people say to me, because they don’t know what they’re really saying, or meaning.<\/p>\n
I remember having a conversation with my sister on a beach in Honolulu. We were vacationing, and my sister asked me about the geneology of the families in War of the Roses from\u0412\u00a0Shakespeare’s Richard II and III. As we were talking, a white woman came up to me, tapped me on the shoulder and said, in all earnestness, “You speak English so WELL”.<\/p>\n
My sister, with a Master’s degree in education was flummoxed, and I paused, counting to five. “Well, we’re American”.<\/p>\n
She said “Is that so? But really, what are you?”<\/p>\n
“We’re American.” I said.<\/p>\n
“Well yes, but what are you, really?” she asked, sweetly.<\/p>\n
At last night’s debate, in Senator McCain’s response to a question about energy,\u0412\u00a0he pointed to his side, not even looking at Senator Obama,\u0412\u00a0saying “..do you know who voted for it? (an energy bill in 2005)…THAT one!”<\/a><\/p>\n Maybe he meant well. But–“that one”? That, as in not even a person. Not a person from\u0412\u00a0your peer group, which he is, professionally. That one. No name. No face. No identity.<\/p>\n Being pegged as a non-entity is nothing new for “others”. Everyone has had it happen to them–women, men, people of color, young people, old people, gay, straight. When someone calls you “that,” you’re an example, a piece of evidence, not a human being with a history, a family, deserved respect for your accomplishments. You’re an “other”, at your expense. Definitely outside the “norm”.<\/p>\n It’s remarkable that we’re not only witnessing an historic campaign that involves America’s first African-American Presidential nominee. We’re also watching a campaign between generations as well as races. Perhaps\u0412\u00a0Senator\u0412\u00a0McCain did not know that his remark was off-putting and condescending\u0412\u00a0to Senator Obama,\u0412\u00a0the people watching and\u0412\u00a0the press and pundits who noted\u0412\u00a0this remark with a sense of dismay.<\/p>\n I was struck and saddened that I saw it happen in such a large venue before probably millions of viewers. As a senator, representing\u0412\u00a0a state\u0412\u00a0populated by people with different languages and cultures, it was an oddly pathetic\u0412\u00a0instance in the life portrait\u0412\u00a0of a man who just didn’t know how out of touch he was at that moment,\u0412\u00a0with the world. In my heart of hearts, I’m hoping that’s what it is, because the darker aspect of it is alarming.<\/a><\/p>\n The sad fact of the matter is that there are plenty of people out there who will never want to learn how to pronounce Barack Obama’s name, or say it, and would much prefer to call him “That One”.\u0412\u00a0 The Other. You can call me over-sensitive, perhaps touchy about race and class in America, but I am still not convinced there are enough people out there who would override the ignorance, isolation and fear\u0412\u00a0that keeps this country lagging from lurching\u0412\u00a0all the way\u0412\u00a0forward into a twenty-first century multi-cultural world, let alone accept a black man as President of the United States. True, there are many who have crossed that bridge long ago. I’m relieved my own niece and nephew are part of a world where their family name\u0412\u00a0is not only pronounced perfectly by their peers, but their bi-racial heritage and\u0412\u00a0cultures\u0412\u00a0are embraced.<\/p>\n But I still watch almost reflexively for signs of more of the same that my sister and I experienced on that beach in Honolulu. Its part\u0412\u00a0my hard-wiring, needing to be on constant “idiot watch” when that stuff happens. It takes alot of energy to teach at that “teachable moment.” Many have yet to muster\u0412\u00a0up\u0412\u00a0a willingness to learn to\u0412\u00a0say the name of the bridge they need to cross.<\/p>\n Yours & truly,<\/p>\n Fe Bongolan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dear Friend and Reader, AS A PERSON of color in America,\u0412\u00a0I am\u0412\u00a0always aware of vocal tone. Tone in how one is addressed,\u0412\u00a0the\u0412\u00a0volume of the voice,\u0412\u00a0whether its brazen and condescending, or concerned and respectful. In a way, I’m hard-wired when it comes to deciphering what people say to me. Words can sometimes mean something absolutely different … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":""},"categories":[301,111],"tags":[36,297,52,144,117,296,376,375],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3460"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3460\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}