Expression

covert racism from 12.22.05

My mom told me that her sister's mother-in-law's house was broken into yesterday(?) while she (the mother-in-law) was home and that a black male demanded that she give him money and then helped himself around the house after she gave him her wallet. She ran outside and screamed for help, but no one came to her assistance; the man eventually left, and she remained uninjured throughout the incident.

Besides the fact that breaking/entering and stealing money are wrong, two things bug me about this incident and how it was told. First, this happened in our neighborhood; my aunt's mother-in-law lives in the next cul-de-sac over from us, and the man was never caught. Not to mention he was able to enter with the doors locked and was not afraid to do so while to house was occupied... It's a bit unnerving.

Second (and some of you are wondering why I have to bring this up...sorry), why did this have to be racialized? I can't help but wonder if my mother could have told the story without mentioning that the guy was black. I should note that she didn't use the terms "black" or "African" or "African-American," which is probably why her inclusion of that detail bugs me; she didn't use the "N" term either but rather stuck with her preferred Chinese description, which is degrogatory regardless of whether a person intends the insult or not (I don't know if there are any "politically correct" Chinese terms for people of other races). It's so natural and yet so wrong. And I wonder if she meant anything by adding in the detail or if she said it because the person just so happened to be black, kind of like he was male.

:: redeemed4hisglory @ 11:25 PM ::