Modern Discrimination

On whole, the movement to diversity in corporate, educational, political, and institutional bodies has increased immensely in the past few decades. After all, we have elected our first black president for a second term in the land of the free, let a Chinese-American basket ball player run headlines for months, and decreased the contempt toward affirmative action.

And yet, why is it that discrimination against those of other races is integrated into the way people perceive others, despite their overt openness and even push toward cultural diversity?

In a recent Chinese-speaking practice session with a native Chinese speaker from Taiwan, studying literature in the school of education, I realized the inherent judgment I held from the moment I met her.  I had so quickly stereotyped her as a socially incompetent, not so smart, small awkward Asian female; a profile that I have tried so hard my whole life to separate from.  She was quiet, had broken English, and led to me to the room with another white female where I assumed would be a perfectly nice, and slightly awkward, hour and a half.

However once the gate was open to her native language of mandarin, with idioms she could use ad sarcasm at her disposal, her personality bloomed. She was so personable, funny, outgoing, and intelligent.   She was well travelled, participated in philanthropic education events in countries I had only dreamed of, and was studying classical Chinese literature at a Masters level. I loved her company and completely forgot the preconceived notions I had about her “social incompetence.” If anything, I was the one who was inept and unable to communicate. While I tried to show my slightly extroverted personality, explaining what I meant in detail and color became increasingly difficult. Frustrated, I began to withdraw from the conversation for fear of embarrassment that I couldn’t express myself properly.  I became quieter, until

finally I seemed unintelligent and unable to communicate properly, awkward because I didn’t know how to properly enter the conversation, and instead focused on the piece of paper in front of me.  This retroversion to a much quieter state is against my natural state, and was caused by a mere language barrier.

Too often do we judge others intelligence and personality types because of language barriers.   Regardless of what true personality types may be, barriers to expression and embarrassment from them result in awkward encounters where people leave themselves vulnerable to judgment, and then withdraw entirely from uncomfortable social situations.  As a result, cultural groups form so that they can relate and be their true selves, and express themselves in the way they most comfortable. This results in a cyclical pattern where similar and comfortable people find each other, avoid those that are “awkward” based on preconceived and invalidated notions, and form further judgment of others because of cultural seclusion.

With regard to my personal observation, minority persons who defy their cultural stereotypes are the most critical of their less culturally integrated counterparts, and actually denounce those who haven’t adapted to American Culture.   It’s the perception of being accepted as a “true American,” without any of the negative connotations that come with the stereotypes that are rewarded and reinforce the built-in discrimination today.

While we want those of other cultures in our work environments and admitted to our schools, I think it’s time for us to push further, open our social circles, and discover the true personalities of those who we may have judged and passed on.  We need to eliminate the integrated modern-day racism that we don’t even recognize, and allow ourselves to break the next frontier in racial equality.  Discomfort may arrive and we may not be used to cultural differences or interacting with people who don’t understand the latest Girls reference you made, but it is the discomfort and push outside of a comfort zone that leads to improvement and change.    The discrepancy between what many so strongly believe in, social and racial equality, and how they act, unintended racial discrimination, is something that I don’t believe I stand alone in.   However, through recognition and resolve we can change the way we think, and make many new friends.