2006-10-13

Dearborn Racism Test

Dearborn, Mi has a well-earned historical reputation for anti-black racism committed by honkies. Dearborn borders Detroit, is one of the world's original "subburbs" and is home to Ford Motor Company. Up to thirty years ago, blacks faced all manner of racism in attempts to eat at restaurants, attend school, or purchase homes. Today blacks compose a huge, noticable fraction of retail customers in Dearborn, and Arab immigrants comprose a majority of residents and students.

Yesterday in a Dearborn fancy grocery store I saw two people seperately obtain a cup of soup, go pay for it, and return to the soup area to consume it. The first person was a woman dressed in typical Ford professional attaire. The second was a man in a shirt and tie. The man got hassled by two different sets of employees, demanding proof that he had paid for his soup. Nobody hassled the woman. Guess the "races" of the two soup eaters.

OK, I'll just tell you. The woman is an Indian, and the man is me, a honkey. Something like this happens to all of us once or twice a year. The difference is that when it happens to a black person in 2006, we very often get a charge of racism.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Sorry Paul, but I don't know that that really proves anything?

Did you pay for your soup?

Unknown said...

Sorry, but Nadir sees racism everywhere he looks even when it isn't there enough as it is Paul. We really don't need you doing it too.

Paul Hue said...

Yes, I had paid for my soup prior to getting challanged. The second challange came from a pair of uniformed security guard who:
- Asked if I paid. I said yes.
- Asked to see my receipt, which I had already discarded.
- Asked me to identify my cashier, which I did, and they went and questioned her.

What this proves is that incidents like this happen to people without race playing a role. Thus when an incident like this happens to a black person, it cannot in 2006 constitute unambigious evidence of racism. My two companions, both Indians, were very offput by my treatment, and I felt very discomfitted.

In my endless discussions with blacks who believe that the US in 2006 is very racist, this sort of incident represents one of the only sorts of "evidence" presented.

Nadir said...

Y'all are punks. I don't see racism everywhere. You exagerate and spread disinformation.

Paul, you look like the type of dude that would jack a bowl of soup.

What was the race of the dudes who asked whether you had paid for the soup?

Paul Hue said...

All the employees who accosted me were honkies. The manager is a negro.

Nadir said...

That proves the racism, right?

The white boys were sucking up to their negro manager, trying to court favor with "the man" by getting after an obviously roguish looking cracker who looks like the type who would jack a bowl of soup at the first opportunity.

A tip of my kufi to the brother for keeping his token ofays in line.

Paul Hue said...

The black manager was not on-site when ths occurred. I learned of him from regular customer Andrew. Imagine if this had happened to a black person, and the companion who did not get hassled was white.