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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAdventures in racism at the supermarket checkout
http://boingboing.net/2015/07/02/adventures-in-racism-at-the-su.htmlTo excerpt:
Writer of piece is at supermarket checkout. In front of her are three AA women
First one attempts to use her EBT card-rejected for "incorrect PIN"
Other two attempt same, with same results, machine rejects all three PINs.
Shoppers say "We entered correct PINs" Cashier says:
"No, NSF or you all used wrong PINs" Bystanders pass hat, pay for groceries. Then:
I hate to say it, the cashier said, which means she didn't hate to say it at all, but people like that just don't keep track of their money. They think they have all of it on their cards, but they just don't budget well.
As I went to pay, I took out my debit card and entered my PIN.
Declined.
My card was declined. It says I'm not using the right PIN.
She looked at me blankly for a moment. Then she said this:
Need I add that the writer is white?
blue neen
(12,335 posts)Unfortunately, I can completely picture this whole scenario.
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)thanks
friendly_iconoclast
(15,333 posts)...I'm an older guy, have short hair and dress somewhat conservatively (don't judge a book...)
so presumably in their bigoted minds are "one of them"
MattBaggins
(7,905 posts)Somebody whispered "happy james earl ray day" to me.......
I have never heard that said! I'm glad I never had, and I'm horrified that anyone would actually say that.
God, I hate bigotry.
Says the older white lady.
KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)not sure I would be able to hold myself back.
SusanCalvin
(6,592 posts)I feel sorry for you, having to deal with people like that.
nilesobek
(1,423 posts)to white people too. At the local grocerteria I watched a male clerk humiliate and delay a couple buying groceries for their growing family on their WIC card. The clerk was dragging his feet and saying the WIC card #s didn't work. I was behind the line and protested LOUDLY about the way he treated this woman and her husband, an obvious combat vet home on leave, in uniform.
I caught myself behaving in a similar fashion when I worked for a year up the street at a convenience store. I was perturbed that a local woman, a tweaker, was spending her entire food stamp allowance, about 280$, in a convenience store.
Quickly I realized that the circumstances people live under are none of my business.
SusanCalvin
(6,592 posts)they are being abusive to people they can tell are different from them, and to whom they feel superior. Ah, humanity......
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)I'd still rather have my tax dollars going to feed people than bomb them.
abelenkpe
(9,933 posts)Thank you, That is the best response of all....!
Tree-Hugger
(3,371 posts)A HERETIC I AM
(24,382 posts)is the number of people in this country that feel the exact opposite.
malaise
(269,328 posts)angel823
(409 posts)Absofuckinglutely.
Angel in Texasperated
SheilaT
(23,156 posts)luck in life. I was born white. I can recall even as a fairly young child, looking at the very few African Americans I saw, how difficult it must be to have dark skin in our culture.
While I have at various times been relatively poor, I've always known that for me it was a temporary condition, that I could get a better job, could go to school, could improve my lot in life. In short, there were no structural barriers for me.
Don't get me wrong. I've experienced plenty of discrimination as a female, but it's not ever been as terrible as having dark skin, or being sufficiently poor that I couldn't get out from under that.
I try very hard to remember that I have the privilege of white skin. I like to tell tales of how when I get stopped for some minor traffic offense I don't get a ticket because of the privilege of my age, but I also understand that my race also helps. Even though I live in a state that is very Hispanic and Native American (New Mexico), being Caucasian matters.
Every single person out there should have the same privilege that I do.
romanic
(2,841 posts)Gormy Cuss
(30,884 posts)I would hope that she related the whole story.
Sheldon Cooper
(3,724 posts)madokie
(51,076 posts)the shit the blacks have to put up with in this country. First they were rounded up and captured and loaded onto ships and if they survived the trip they were sold into slavery then forced to work for nothing except a meal and a place to sleep. Not much has changed for them in all these years. If I was black I'd be pissed way more than I am as it is.
AngryAmish
(25,704 posts)Damn proles.
SusanCalvin
(6,592 posts)In what world does three declined PINs in a row not arouse suspicion that the *machine* has an issue, no matter who was using it? Ours, unfortunately.