Observation Journal #2

Is Sept. 11Th still evoking racial slurs against "middle-eastern looking" people?



I was at brunch this last weekend with a friend (the one mentioned in the previous observation journal) and her boyfriend who was here for the weekend. I am not sure what was going on this past Sunday on campus however there was a group of Indian people who were around campus and at one point were gathered with the men doing some sort of chant by Joyce, though I am not sure what this was for. This group of people exited Joyce in-mass and the first thing this boyfriend said was some flip comment regarding the Taliban. I was busy looking at the women's beautiful saris and this comment caught me so off guard that all I could say was something to the effect of "hey! no, not OK, don't say that kind of sh-t". He looked at me like I was slightly crazy, like that comment shouldn't bother me and I said "that's just not necessary". After an extremely awkward pause we all went back to eating brunch. Newman says that slurs "reflect broader cultural and political themes" (76), and he is right. This type of slur would have never come to this boy's mind had it not been for September 11Th and the hysteria it created around people of middle eastern appearance. This young man feels it is his right to say such things because he is a Vermonter, the type who is proud to call themselves rednecks, and he hates "all of those types" (as I have heard him say in the past). Because of the political and cultural events that have taken place in the past few years there are comments I often hear when people of certain appearances are around. I was defiantly taken aback by this statement. The people who were on campus were (I am fairly positive) Indian and not wearing turbans or anything that might be viewed as "Taliban-esque". This comment was driven purely on the basis of their skin tone and I am still not sure how to process it. I think I might need to get some new friends though.