Outnumbered and Nervous
I guess I should make the disclaimer that this blog
could be offensive to certain individuals. If it pisses you off I could really
care less because it is how I feel for better or worse. Go write your own blog
about how I ticked you off and kiss my ASS!
Today will definitely be my last trip to Pasco. I
will go out of my way to avoid it at all costs. I went to my bank today. Nestled
in one of the worst parts of Pasco (A.K.A Mexico 2), I really get pissed off
that they don't build a new location in a less distressed neighborhood for
people that don't feel they should have to arm themselves to go to their bank.
ANYWAY, so I get in there, and fill out my slip and get in the ginormous line...
it's then it strikes me that I am the only white person in the WHOLE BANK.
There's probably a good 50 people in there. Other people got the message too
because they just stared at me as if I was a fish out of water. I wasn't aware
that this area of town had become "exclusive," but people made that immediately
clear with body gesture. I was actually given dirty glares! What the hell did I
do to them? It is my bank too!
The
patronage at this bank was completely hispanic. I don't have a problem with
Mexican people who bear American standards of living. One of my best friends of
years if Mexican. What I have a problem with are a bunch of people who haven't
showered in days, wearing sweats stained with god knows what, smelling to high
hell of too much cologne, with pure gold chains worth well in excess of the rags
they are dressing their children in. There was a whole freaking bank full of
these people. You don't have to be mexican to be one of these people, but oddly
I couldn't pick out one person in this entire bank that looked dressed in clean
clothes. It was disgusting.
To make
matters worse, nobody was watching their kids. some kid just knocked down an
entire row of deposit and withdrawal slips, they fell all over, and the kid just
laughed and ran off. Nobody in the entire place but me raised an eyebrow. What
the fuck? Where is the standard of living? It's not like my family is exactly
rich, but you don't have to be to prioritize and pay a little attention to your
children.
Unfortunately this town is a
bad reflection upon hispanic culture. At least to me. Maybe I expect a little
too much americanization out of people... silly me, to expect you to act like an
American in America. There's a difference between bringing desired culture and
preserving that culture in your everyday life, and bringing deterioration to a
culture. Thousands of Mexican people risk a lot to cross the border everyday to
get away from the poor quality of life in Mexico and it pisses me off to see
that some of them have decided to bring it along with them. Fuck you. This is
not your country to destroy, you can't move forward without taking a step in the
right direction.
Another thing that
pisses me off about Pasco is the language issue. The hell if I am ok with
walking into my bank... who's very name declares it's residence in this country,
and not see a single sign in English. That's NOT ok. I understand posting in
multiple languages. That's great, in fact more places should do it. However,
this country has a native language. That language is English, and that's just
all there is to it. You want to live in the country, learn the language of the
country. If you can't speak/read it well, I don't really care, as long as you at
least TRY.
If it's racist, ask me if I
care? More importantly, why does this seem to be a problem with just one
ethnicity? I meet a lot of people every day who are struggling (obviously) with
a language barrier, but at least they are trying. That's all I care about. You
better not expect me to try and understand your language if you aren't even
going to try to speak mine. Your lack of effort equals my lack of respect. If
Pasco is going to continue down this road then the state ought to just declare
it an international district and let it go. It's too far gone to begin with.
Pasco just doesn't seem to understand
this either. They try desperately to get respectable businesses to come to
Pasco, and get frustrated when places, like the Olive Garden (who they invited
in to test the market for a possible restaurant), jump ship to Kennewick or
Richland. It's pretty obvious what's up, the city needs to clue
in.
Anyways, back to the story at hand.
I'm the lone white guy in the bank. And One black guy is staring at me, and I'm
staring at him, and we've got the same thing on our minds... we are impostors in
our own country. Everybody else in the whole place was hispanic. The black guy
and I made eye contact and kinda chuckled and nodded our heads. I felt really
uneasy. I'm not about to hear the stuff about minorities either because I know
all about being the smallest minority in this nation to begin with! I've never,
in all my life, walked into an institution, that's not specifically catering to
one ethnicity, and felt so much unease. People were staring at me, actually
glaring, eyes like daggers as if I didn't belong.
Anybody who knows me, knows that those
are the situations in which I shine. I will go anywhere in this country I
choose. I'm an American, and given the recent statistics released by the local
INS, a good portion of those people in the bank this morning... aren't. So I
stood in the line, with everybody staring at me and whispering, and held my
silent bond with the black guy and thought to myself that it's sad that they
created a situation where ethnicity mattered that much.
The difference between Pasco, and
say... China Town in Seattle, is that Seattle has designated China Town an
international district, making it at least a bit touristy, and while people
there can preserve their culture, they can also share it with other cultures and
make money doing so. This atmosphere at the bank was of "exclusivity." I was
blatantly unwelcome, and it showed. There is no touristy area of Pasco, just a
lot of rundown visions of the worst parts of a culture that is fast becoming
considered a scourge of American society. That is sad, but after this morning,
it's very clear why that is.
Say what
you want, call me a racist, but I wasn't the one giving the dirty glares because
I was the only white person at a branch of my own bank. Kinda puts the shoe on
the other foot... doesn't it.
I feel
the same way about sexual minority too. Any body who knows me will tell you that
I am extremely critical of my own people. The reason is that I understand that
the key to be accepted and embraced by a society is not to force your way in.
Don't demand that people cater to you, and expect them to walk on eggshells
around you because you are different, make an effort to blend your culture with
theirs and co-exist. When all else fails understand that you are a minority in a
country where majority rules. Too bad, so sad, that's the way it is. At least
you aren't in France. The French don't tolerate any threats to their culture or
way of life. Amazingly with so many other countries around them, everybody knows
(except stupid American tourists who have no knowledge of France other than it's
being the location of the a fancy tower) that you don't address a French person
with out at least trying to speak to them in French first. They will ignore you.
You don't post signs exclusively in a different language in France, it's an
unheard of offense. Count your lucky stars that you are in
America!
Anyway, that's all I have to
say. Again, if I ticked you off, don't bother writing me, you aren't going to
change the way I feel. I don't want to hear any sad stories either because I am
a minority and I know better. So if you wanna play the race card, maybe it's
time we took it head to head, and ask if it's so hard for you to be a minority
in America... why am I the one who's not welcome in my own bank?
Posted: Sat
- October 30, 2004 at 12:25 PM