It never fails, airports bring stress to many of those who find themselves inside their walls. And today, well the other day, Tueday, September 14th, was no exception. At 4:30 in the morning en route to Sea-Tac, we missed the exit to the airport that set us on a direct course for I-5. A large sign flashed the announcement that it would take a mere 12 minutes to drive to Seattle from where we were. Not tempting at all. The GPS dutifully alerted us with multiple beeps that we could turn around at the next exit. Tension relieved. The moment I said goodbye to the 'rents, an enormous weight was lifted from my shoulders. No one being responsible for me but myself still has a supremely liberating effect each and time I experience it. I had set out "on the road" surrounded by so many people, but yet, completely alone. Like I said, a marvelous feeling indeed. No one to rely on and no one to be accountable to or for, except me.
Checking in at the United Airlines kiosk, the self-proclaimed "Easy Check-In" where there are nowadays roughly 5 or so agents for about 30 of these self-use kiosks. A prime example of technology's replacement of human beings. When the automatic scanner for your passport or ID lies a good 18 inches to the side of the screen, it might as well be in Siberia. It was then that an ugly side of humanity reared its head immediately to my left where an unfortunate situation turned into something much worse.
Two males who, to the best of my knowledge, were going to Mexico had had their two separate names combined into one on the E-ticket printout in hand. The lady that was assisting them was short and had a noticeable "Asian" accent. Now, I know that Asia is an extremely broad term, but with no other visible adjectives, I decided to use it despite its political incorrectness. I think you may have a good idea where this is going. The white male's passport was taken by the United agent while the other, Latino kept his head down quietly. The white guy proceeded to severely mock the lady in frustration of the error in his best attempt at an "Asian" accent. Racist, derogatory remarks, such as (earmuffs), "this is an airport, not a f*cking McDonald's... and no, I do not want pickle with that" were uttered in an extremely debasing manner. All the while I was thinking, you idiot, if you had even so much as glanced at the computer print outs, you could have saved all this headache as well as being put on blast on the internet for the all the world to see. A redneck spectacle that resorts to racial slurs and bigotry when a trifle doesn't fit in line with your measly plans. You disgust me.
It was at that exact moment when I had to make a decision. Do I speak up and say something along the lines of, "Hey pal, that racist bullsh*t has no place here or anywhere, she's doing her best at 5:00 in the morning. You try moving to a foreign country, learn the language AND get rid of your bassackwards hick accent". Or, do I keep my mouth shut and settle for the status quo? I recently saw a special on TV about childhood bullying in the schoolyard. The specialist remarked that roughly 85% of the kids present for an abusive incident are essentially "supporting actors", or rather, bystanders watching the negative action take place. It is these individuals that have the power to either add their input in order to change the negative action, or passively observe and let it occur. Life is just a really big schoolyard, and I was (in this case) the supporting actor that allowed this man's frustration to boil into real, obvious, and terrible racism. Honestly, looking back on the situation, it could have been one of those new-fangled reality shows where people are tested on they will react to a situation that is morally wrong. Needless to say, I would not want my performance to air on national television, but if the incident were to be shown to millions of people, I guarantee the lesson would be pounded home much more effectively than by walking away from the situation, or even just by writing about it.
We can hypothesize and idealize our reactions to situations that conflict with our ethical tenets, but until the moment comes in which we are actually tested, hypothesizing and idealizing is all we are doing. Passively sitting around designing hypothetical social experiments that could potentially arise in life, and predicting our reactions. Part of why I felt so strongly about what I experienced at the check-in booth is my sense of failure at conforming with my own moral framework. I know that deep rifts are present among people and among groups of people because of perceived visible differences such as skin color, body size/shape, accent, religion, and the list goes on and on. But there is more genetic variation within one "race", than among different groups of people separated by geographic proximity. The difference lies in behaviors that are considered to be normal from one group to the next.
The purpose for this entry in my online, and very public journal is to hold me accountable to act when that moment comes that really tests my ethical framework. If I say that I believe something such as, racism is wrong, I should be willing to defend what I believe is right through actions. Verbally commending our fellow humanoids for going out of their way to perform an action that we perceive as morally correct and scolding them for an action that we perceive as wrong is imperative. Next time that uppity gringo racially degrades the airline attendant, the worker at the DMV, or any other service-oriented profession that we are pre-conditioned to despise, I must speak out for what is right. Putting this into print for everyone and their grandmother's dawgs to see will help me do just that.
All for now. This self-chastising publication has been brought to you, in part, by Elvagabundonumerouno. Good night tv and radio land.
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