{"id":4096,"date":"2008-01-17T14:17:09","date_gmt":"2008-01-17T21:36:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.amptoons.com\/blog\/archives\/2008\/01\/17\/overheard-yesterday-in-a-restauranti-want-to-be-white\/"},"modified":"2008-01-17T14:17:09","modified_gmt":"2008-01-17T21:36:57","slug":"overheard-yesterday-in-a-restauranti-want-to-be-white","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=4096","title":{"rendered":"Overheard Yesterday in a Restaurant…"I Want to Be White""},"content":{"rendered":"

In the comments section of this post<\/a> on marriages between whites and Latin@s, there is a newly revived discussion about Latin@s and race. It reminds me of a real conversation I overheard just yesterday. I was sitting in a restaurant, which was almost empty. My waitress was Latina, most likely of Mexican or Central American descent. Since I was sitting in the back, I was near the kitchen area. The young white woman, who appeared to be the manager, sat at the table behind me. The Latina waitress came up to the white woman manager and started discussing her (the Latina’s) children. I suppose this was a continuation of a previous conversation, but here’s what I heard.<\/p>\n

The waitress: My children are white. LOL!<\/p>\n

The manager: Yes, they are very light.<\/p>\n

The waitress: Well, my husband is very light.<\/p>\n

The manager: Yes, he’s very white looking.<\/p>\n

The waitress: I want my kids to be white.<\/p>\n

The manager: Well, they are light, and you are pretty light too. Look you’re just a shade darker than me, and I’m Irish.<\/p>\n

The waitress: Well, I want to be white, too.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Oh how I wanted to interject myself in the conversation, and I know that they knew I heard all of this. I sat there and debated about whether or not to keep my mouth shut, and I decided that I wouldn’t say anything. But the tone of the conversation was very interesting and depressing. It was as if the Latina waitress was trying to fit in by asserting the whiteness of her children, and the white manager was trying to give affirmation that she and her children could be white. They both were placing whiteness as something that was superior and something that you strive for. I’m not the least bit surprised that these two women felt that way, but I am a little surprised that they were so open about that conversation. I guess they felt that I was white, so I must approve of it. Of course, since I didn’t say anything, I gave my tacit approval to the whole discussion.<\/p>\n

I don’t know about the children, but the woman who was my waitress, much to her chagrin, would have had a difficult time passing for white.<\/p>\n

I should have said something like, “Well, there’s nothing special about being white.” What’s even more ironic is that I was deeply concentrating on my African American sociology syllabus and I had several books sitting on the table that reflected this. Their discussion helped me to lose that concentration, and soon after, I left.<\/p>\n

This is one of those times when I am reminded of a strange aspect of white privilege–this conversation would have never occurred if these two women did not presume that I was white. This is why I cringe and laugh everytime I hear whites proclaim that they don’t hear people make racist comments. Most of the whites (and those who aspire to whiteness) I know prefer to make their racist comments in front of other whites.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the comments section of this post on marriages between whites and Latin@s, there is a newly revived discussion about Latin@s and race. It reminds me of a real conversation I overheard just yesterday. I was sitting in a restaurant, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[108,93],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-immigration-migrant-rights-etc","category-race-racism-and-related-issues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4096\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}