|
When will we be released from the burden of racism?
 [News24 South Africa] Just before Christmas I went to buy a bottle of wine in a store in a town on the Garden Route. There were two cashiers; one was talking to a friend or relative on the phone, the other one was just staring past me. After several minutes, I asked her if I could pay for the wine. Sorry, she said, she was waiting to finish a transaction with another customer, and she pointed to that person.That customer was having a lively conversation a few metres away with a security guard about the problems of crime in the town. After what must have been a full two more minutes, I approached her and politely asked if she would mind paying for her wine so the casher could serve me ‐ I was parked on a yellow line, I explained. She was immediately angry. She accused me of being arrogant and, yes, white. I tried to explain that my request was a polite one and that I was parked on a yellow line, but it just made it worse and the whole exchange became a bit of a public scene. When are "you people" going to realise that you're not baas any longer, she asked. I was deeply embarrassed ‐ I'm normally the guy who would intervene when a white customer is rude to a black employee in a shop. I was also annoyed, because I knew if she were white, I would have been far more direct and assertive in asking her to conclude her sale. A month or so before this incident I was driving my car out of the forecourt of a Cape Town petrol station into the street when another car trying to get to the pumps nearly ran into me. I was relaxed; I stopped, reversed a little bit and waved my hand to say, please proceed. The driver jumped out and confronted me aggressively at my car window. What was that hand gesture about, you bloody racist, he asked, and threatened to inflict violence upon me. My explanation that it was a wave to give him right of way was not acceptable. I was not wrong in one of the two incidents. There was nothing racist about my actions. But these experiences stayed with me and made me think. Were these two individuals simply angry at life? Were they looking for an argument with a white male? Do I come across as an arrogant, aggressive white man, even when I don't think I am? About the author. Posted by: Besoeker 2019-01-07 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=531420 |