Well...since race has been brought up this is as good a place as any to post this little incident that happened to me today.
I'm still scratching my head on this one.
A group of about 7 young adults/teens came into our pub today. Because some of the group looked to be underage possibly, I decided to ask for some ID. This is routine. I do it all the time.
Anyhow I followed them out to the patio and asked if they were all of age.They said yes of course. I then asked them to produce ID. One young man stepped forward and gave me his drivers licence. I looked at the date,confirmed the photo,saw he was indeed legal age and thanked him. Now it gets weird. He looked at me and said " Ya ...sorry bout looking like an Iranian terrorists and all,but I'm not". The implication was clear.He was basically accusing me of IDing him because he was or looked of Middle Eastern decent. Stunned I just looked at him and said " That was not the issue at all...your youthful looks were". He shrugged and went to his table.
As the day has worn on, this has really been bugging me....for so many reasons. First just the hint that I was being racially biased. As far as I can tell about myself...this is just not a statement that is representative of the kind of person I am.
Secondly I almost felt like perhaps he was racially profiling me in a way.Like just because I happen to be inhabiting a body that appears to be "white anglo-christian" that I must by that standard be biased toward him.
And then I got to thinking. I wonder why he thought that? What made him say that? And does he really feel that way? And why does he feel that way?
And then I got sad. Cause when I saw this boy I just saw a young man who looked underage. When he looked at me,he didn't see a person doing her job,he saw someone racially profiling him. I felt a kind of compassion for this boy and wonder what racism he has encountered to make him feel this way.It makes me wonder about the climate of this "New Canada" we find ourselves in.
Anyhow thanks for letting me vent.It's funny I've never faced any sort of question about my character because of my appearance....my gender yes...but not the other. It was a sick and uneasy feeling. A feeling a lot of people do experience everyday based solely on their skin color. For a brief moment I was in the other guys shoes. I'm a little more humble for it.