Do I Smell?
Posted: Tuesday, December 15, 2009
by Kevin D. Moore
Knowledge Driven & Moore LLC
The other day, I met a man with a great year long tan from Kenya, Africa. Yup…you guessed it… He is a black man. Or…you could say that he is an African American. Actually, that is incorrect. He is an African who lives in America with a great year long tan. Ok… He is a black man.
Once I asked the question, I became very surprised by his answer. He informed me that at first he wasn't aware of being treated any differently than any other person (e.g. white, brown, yellow, etc.) He stated that, regardless of how he was treated, he probably wouldn't have noticed the difference because in Kenya the issue of difference is not color based but "tribe" based. He said that there are over 40 tribes in Kenya and all have a different culture, tradition, and way of life. So, as a result, he was never truly aware of differences associated with color.
Unfortunately, after living in America for some time (which he loves), he slowly became aware of some of our American color issues. He said that he didn't really know that he was being looked at differently until he had a memorable eye opening train ride in our nation's capital.
So… He tells me that he was sitting in a seat on the train. Being raised in a tribe that taught manners and courtesies, he slide over as far as possible on the two person seat to ensure that there would be plenty of room for another person to sit down. He said that on that day the train was extremely full. But after awhile, he noticed that none of the white people would sit next to him. Instead, they would stand. He even tried to provide more room on the seat. But still…no white person would sit next to him.
For the life of him, he couldn't figure out what was wrong…
Now, I have to tell you… While listening to this story, my mind briefly wandered as I pictured the situation in my head. I could imagine him sitting there trying to figure out what was wrong. Not understanding color issues in America, I could actually see him begin to wonder if maybe the problem was that he was unpleasing to another's senses. In other words…maybe he smelled bad!!! I could see him trying to identify the offending area without anyone noticing what he was doing. I could see the distressed look on his face as he tried unsuccessfully to find where the smell was coming from.
At this moment, my mind refocused on him as he stated to me how bad he felt that white people were not sitting next to him. He said that he felt so bad that he finally stood up so that others might then be willing to sit down. And, he was right. Once he got up, white people started to use this now fully vacant seat.
While standing, he said that he was still trying to figure out what the problem was. It wasn't until some months later and after numerous train rides that he realized what the problem might be. Needless to say, he was not happy with his realization.
I thought I could hear the pain in his voice. I must admit that I wanted to ease his pain and tell him that it had nothing to do with his color. I wanted to tell him that the reason white people would not sit next to him was because he smelled. Of course, that wasn't true. He didn't smell but at least he could do something about that.
To be honest this is the first time in my life where asking the question "Do I Smell?" brings more joy than having to ask "Am I The Wrong Color?".
Either way, having to ask either question…really stinks!
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Top-level comments on this article: (5 total)Keven, this story has nothing to do with the subject of your aricle but I thought I'd throw in a little humor here. I believe it was in 1967 when Mohamed Allie fought Sonny Liston. Ali always came out with little stories about his victories. well this story went like this. It was fought in my home state of Maine when Ali knock out Liston in the first round. he said one man who came to see the fight said I paid $100.00 dollars for a ticket bought a hot dog and a beer and Liston sat down before I did.David,You are absolutely correct. Your story has nothing to do with the subject of the article. Actually, your story stinks (ha...ha...ha...) Seriously, thanks for the story! No matter how bad things are we have to have laughter. Also, your story reminds me why I don't go to fights. Besides the fact that I had to box when I was in college and watching two people pound on each other is not my favorite thing, I'm afraid that the day I spend a lot of money to go to a boxing match will be the day that one of the opponents gets knocked out in the first 10 seconds. I guess you can say that I am a big chicken!Thanks for the humor...Kevin
Well written article and it is a shame that this still happens - I was raised in MN and then moved to CA and we are now in CO. This is a military town and we expect to see a great and wonderful variety of eye, skin and hair colors and (unless I am very naive) most here look to the person/their character rather than what features they have - I have never lived in DC... Thanks for writing this piece! Marijo (Mary Jo - dad was a creative speller)Marijo (I like your dad's spelling),Thanks for the thanks. It's great to get feedback. And, yes, it is a shame that this still happens to anyone. Sure in this case it was guy with a tan all the time but this is difinitely not a "black" thing. There are a lot of people judging other people for a lot of things that they shouldn't be judged for.Let's just keep hope alive that one day this will change.KevinI hear you! Keep posting! MarijoDeal! I will if you will. Ok, Ok, I will :-)
Hi Kevin.What you've written can not be written about enough. If you just keep pointing our prejudices out to us (the world), maybe we'll finally see them for what they are.Good job!DianneDianne,You know, sometimes writing about differences gets old. But over the years, I have learned that the more we talk about our differences the more we realize how similar we are and at that moment the world gets just a little smaller and closer.Thanks for the pep talk.Kevin
Kevin, thanks for writing this article. I agree with Dianne about having our prejudices pointed out to us. I'm white, but REALLY hate hearing comments, born out of ignorance or prejudice, about black people. I did home health care for a while, in the inner city of Omaha. Every black home I visited was spotless, the residents nothing but polite and appreciative. I can't say the same for many of the white homes I visited.Joyce,We are singing the same song! Ignorance and prejudice are dangerous things. The funny thing is that I consider myself a non-dangerous person until I catch myself making a comment out of ignorance or being prejudiced against someone because they look better than me (just kidding; I think.) The bottom line is that we all have to stay vigilant in our fight against ignorance and prejudice if we want this world to be a much better place.Many thanks for the comment!Kevin
Thanks Kevin for your insightful commentary on race and racism. I have echoed many of the things that you spoke of in this piece in many of mine (I also see that we are engaged in the same work).I welcome you to SearchWarp and your voice on these pages.Edward,Thanks for the welcome and comment! It's funny sometimes the discussion of differences to ultimately get to similiarities wears a person down. Needless to say, sooner or later it will come up in a conversation. Once the conversation has ended, I am reminded that we all have ways to go. But we are getting closer to each other. One person at a time.Again thanks for the kind words.Kevin
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