I would like to suggest a reason why white people can't comprehend what this author says she's going through as an immigrant with a slight accent. Could it be that the persons to whom she is complaining do not see her as she claims they do? They are surprised not because they can't imagine feeling "OTHERED," but because they do not see h…
I would like to suggest a reason why white people can't comprehend what this author says she's going through as an immigrant with a slight accent. Could it be that the persons to whom she is complaining do not see her as she claims they do? They are surprised not because they can't imagine feeling "OTHERED," but because they do not see her as "other" any more than any American sees another as an "other" since we are all from elsewhere, this is embedded in our identity, and perhaps the most common question on the playground has always been: Where are you from? I grew up in a mostly white suburb of Chicago where we asked this of each other constantly, proudly saying: I'm half Irish and half German! and so on. The self-consciousness of the immigrant is not the OTHER (WHITE PERSON'S) PROBLEM to solve. If she is so bothered by LOOKING different what are we supposed to do about it? I'm starting to get really cranky about this complaint, e.g. "I was the only black person in the room." So what are we supposed to do about that? Then we bend over backward to make that person comfortable, and they are still not comfortable because of the color of our skin! Or a different cultural affect. SO WHAT DO WE DO???? What does this author -- or any person who is not white -- expect from white people? Add to this that as a white person, that same town where I grew up among other whites now has a Mexican grocery store (that replaced Dominick's) a now dominant Mexican and Polish population that doesn't speak much English -- in other words, I can't go "home" again. I now live in a neighborhood where I am practically invisible, do not feel I "belong" and -- strangely enough -- do not expect THEM to fix it. It's my AMERICAN problem.
They don't get. I thought FAIR was the one place we could get away from such insanity. I'm disappointed in the article and find to be just more toxic nonsense. The Dr. is clearly playing the victim card.
I would like to suggest a reason why white people can't comprehend what this author says she's going through as an immigrant with a slight accent. Could it be that the persons to whom she is complaining do not see her as she claims they do? They are surprised not because they can't imagine feeling "OTHERED," but because they do not see her as "other" any more than any American sees another as an "other" since we are all from elsewhere, this is embedded in our identity, and perhaps the most common question on the playground has always been: Where are you from? I grew up in a mostly white suburb of Chicago where we asked this of each other constantly, proudly saying: I'm half Irish and half German! and so on. The self-consciousness of the immigrant is not the OTHER (WHITE PERSON'S) PROBLEM to solve. If she is so bothered by LOOKING different what are we supposed to do about it? I'm starting to get really cranky about this complaint, e.g. "I was the only black person in the room." So what are we supposed to do about that? Then we bend over backward to make that person comfortable, and they are still not comfortable because of the color of our skin! Or a different cultural affect. SO WHAT DO WE DO???? What does this author -- or any person who is not white -- expect from white people? Add to this that as a white person, that same town where I grew up among other whites now has a Mexican grocery store (that replaced Dominick's) a now dominant Mexican and Polish population that doesn't speak much English -- in other words, I can't go "home" again. I now live in a neighborhood where I am practically invisible, do not feel I "belong" and -- strangely enough -- do not expect THEM to fix it. It's my AMERICAN problem.
They don't get. I thought FAIR was the one place we could get away from such insanity. I'm disappointed in the article and find to be just more toxic nonsense. The Dr. is clearly playing the victim card.