About two weeks ago, a photo of a white woman dressed in flight attendant attire addressing passengers on a plane went viral on Facebook.

It didn’t exactly go viral because of the photo, but instead because of the story that was spelled out beneath. Below is a copy of the story.

“A 50-something year old white woman arrived at her seat and saw that the passenger next to her was a black man.
Visibly furious, she called the air hostess.
“What’s the problem, ma’am?” the hostess asked her
“Can’t you see?” the lady said – “I was given a seat next to a black man. I can’t seat here next to him. You have to change my seat”
“Please, calm down, ma’am” – said the hostess,  “Unfortunately, all the seats are occupied, but I’m still going to check if we have any.”
The hostess left and returned some minutes later.
“Madam, as I told you, there isn’t any empty seat in this class- economy class. But I spoke to the captain and he confirmed that there isn’t any empty seats in the economy class. We only have seats in the first class.”
And before the woman said anything, the hostess continued
“Look, it is unusual for our company to allow a passenger from the economy class change to the first class. However, given the circumstances, the commandant thinks that it would be a scandal to make a passenger travel sat next to an unpleasant person.”
And turning to the black man, the hostess said:
“Which means, Sir, if you would be so nice to pack your handbag, we have reserved you a seat in the first class…”
And all the passengers nearby, who were shocked to see the scene started applauding, some standing on their feet.”

Ok. After reading it, I became upset because my mind was spinning with all the problems poised in the scenario.

For one. We are applauding?
I get it. Racism is bad. As a poor, black woman, a woman, poor, and black, or black woman and poor,  marginalized in an all white, upper-class social setting, I constantly have to prove that I worked hard to get here. So empathy, I am there.

Now. If I get on a plane and an old white woman says she does not want to sit next to me and then the rest of the plane applauds when she does not get what she wants, all we have done is shamed her into thinking what she requested was wrong. And indeed it was.

HOWEVER. This scenario also speaks about how eager how society is to dismiss the prevalence of racism.

Racism is real.

Racism is embedded in our social systems, indoctrinated in how we interact with people from different backgrounds, and impossible to give a clear end date to its power. It has become modernized through time to the point in which those who are oppressed by its overwhelming power cannot identify it as clearly as the “white” fountain and the “black” fountain.

Albert Memmi states that “There is a strange kind of enigma associated with the problem of racism. No one, or almost no one, wishes to see themselves as racist; still, racism persists, real and tenacious.” Memmi asserts in his book, Racism, that racism is not personal, it is general. It is social, not “natural” and it’s tragically effective.

Anyone that argues against this assertion, please look up the number of frisks of young black men, per day, in New York City, and then look up the same statistic for young white men. Too lazy? Here:

Young, Black, and Frisked by the NYPD:
Why is the NYPD After Me?

Click to access CCR_Stop_and_Frisk_Fact_Sheet.pdf

These statistics, of course, don’t include the number of times those with authority did not report a frisk.  

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Prison_System/Masked_Racism_ADavis.html

If the numbers in the link above are not a reaffirmation of the systematic racist structures that frame our livelihoods of inequality or for some, privilege, you are welcome to stop reading. 

Toure, cultural critic, argues that  “Modern racism is a much more subtle, nuanced, slippery beast than its father or grandfather were. It has ways of making itself seem to not exist, which can drive you crazy trying to prove its existence sometimes. You’re in Target. Is the security guard following you? You’re not sure. You think he is but you can’t be certain. Maybe the guard is Black, so if you tried to explain it to a white friend they might not understand it as racist, but the guard’s boss isn’t Black. Or maybe he is. Maybe what you’re feeling are his ashamed vibes as if he’s sending you a silent signal of apology for following you. Or maybe…now you’re looking for the Tylenol for migraines when you all you needed was toothpaste.”

But a competent person knows when they are being dehumanized, all the “greats” of the black community have experienced their “nigger wake-up call,” (Comedian Paul Mooney) and no one is an exception to it, no matter how intelligent or how rich (not wealthy) you are. (See comedian Chris Rock on his contrast between rich and wealthy).

The worst part about racism is that when you try to explain your dehumanizing experience to someone who has one, never experienced by treated like a nigger or two, refuses to believe racism is still alive–in which case, you are treated as if you are crazy or paranoid, just as Touré explained. Then you are faced with a decision, to sing a May song or wait until November.

So why did I open with the story that has been going viral on Facebook? Because I wanted to explicate my belief that racism is always in the hands of those in power. In that story,  we do not hear the perspective of the black man who’s entire being was spat upon by a bigoted white woman. Instead, we hear the story of the white flight attendant that came to his rescue and really says, cheer up young chap, I’m here to save you from this racist white woman. From that, I would argue:

There are two things wrong with the presented scenario. 

1. The harm’s already been done. The black man has already been reminded that he is a nigger. That it doesn’t matter whether if he had 1,000, 000,000 dollars in his suitcase to negotiate the biggest deal in history with a PhD from Harvard. He’s black and doesn’t belong. OH, but now, he’s riding in first class.

2. You fail to realize that this means that racism has and always will be in the hands of the white oppressor. This includes the probable white captain, white flight attendant, and white bigot. Notice that the white flight attendant did not speak to the black passenger, ask him what he would like to do, how he was feeling, or how he would like them to respond. Yes, I am well aware that she followed protocol by going straight to her white pilot, but perhaps he wanted stay right where he was. He was still ultimately told what to do and how to do it and the white bigot still won, she did not have to sit next to that unpleasant black man.

Let me be clear, once more, that the action that the flight attendant did was appropriate, but if it was me, I would do one of two things.

I would make her sit with the black man and make her realize that he is just as human she is, they both have to use the restroom, they both speak, they both have DNA, and they both have hearts.

Or. I would kick the woman off of the plane, not let her stay in coach. Any person who has the ability to completely demoralize and degrade someone’s very being should not be in the presence of another civil being. Period.

But that what racism is, its makes you remind the “other” that he or she is an “other.” They can never be equal to you, or anything close to it, that must you must always treat the “other” like they are different. (“You” referring to the white norm of the United States of America.)

Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, the author of Racism without Racists: Color-Blind Racism & Racial Inequality in Contemporary America,  Bonilla-Silva challenges color-blind thinking through documenting how under the rhetorical maze of contemporary racial discourse lies a full-blown arsenal of arguments, phrases, and stories that whites use to account for–and ultimately justify–racial inequities.

Now, this description was paraphrased from the back of Bonilla-Silva’s book and is layered with complicated language that confuse readers. Color-blind racism simply engages the uses of subtle racism but still very much as damaging as the racism before it was played out to be racist. (In a later blog, I will discuss this topic.)

Racism’s purpose is to do one thing, to remind one group of the other’s superiority, whether intentional or in a tranquil fashion, people of color face this reminder everyday. Some just got their alarm clocks set earlier than others.