Nothing to be Scared of, Here

Last week I decided I was an "advocate for social justice." Anyone who takes on such a title should be willing to admit that she is hypersenstive (if being completely honest with herself), or at the very least is someone who looks at everything with a discerning eye.

Either way, I had an experience Monday night that confirmed I'm not crazy.

Since I've been in this city, more often than not I've been the only black person in the room. Many of the interactions that ensued felt forced and awkward. Tuesday was different. The bf and I went to an Irish pub with his coworkers, and had a blast. Yes, we can suggest a number of reasons why people in this setting might be friendly and laidback (I also wouldn't rule out a possibility that I've internalized a sense of inferiority that feels magnified in these settings.) -- but I just said, I've been in similar situations before and had not 1/18th of the fun I had that night.

My point is, there is a palpable difference when you interact when someone who doesn't see you through any other lens than as a fellow human being. Not as a black person, a young person, a rich person, a woman - just a person.

If this happened every day, it wouldn't be noteworthy. But it doesn't. (Think about it, why else are people surprised when they meet a celebrity who's "down to Earth?")

We create social labels that proscribe that one person be treated differently than another, due to "stature," "gender," "class," "age," "accomplishments" or whatever. These lead to a faulty, inflated sense of self-importance that could be easily deflated (and become obsolete) by simply treating everyone with respect and bearing in mind that we all "put our pants on one leg at a time."