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Brooklyn
Memoir (8)
Racial prejudice from an oblique view point
In New York City even the suggestion of racial prejudice is considered to be an uncivilized act. Therefore, we, non-Caucasians, don’t feel any prejudice there in everyday life, at least. Even the term "Black American" is no longer used. It is not politically correct any more and has been replaced by "African American." However, I believe that there still is prejudice deep inside in the psychology of the most Americans.
There were several African American residents in our department. Al, who was two years ahead of me, used to be a star in the college football team at one of the Ivy League schools. Although he showed his presence both academically and physically, he always felt injustice in American society.
He was a kind of person that shows his feelings by his behavior. Let me give you an example.
There was a professor of gynecology, a Caucasian gentleman, who used to wear a bow tie. He was about to retire, and yet was very obsessive about residents’ dress code. He once found me not wearing a tie.
"Didn’t you forget anything else?" he asked me very sarcastically. Al never wore a tie, which is a symbol of the white culture. Al also had to rotate through GYN and could not escape meeting with the professor. How did Al respond to that famous question? He said something like "Something I forgot, well…," and then began to unbutton his shirt and show his chest hair.
In fact, if a majority intellectual reacts to the minority in this way, the former feels very embarrassed. However, a member of the majority usually is not strong enough to react to the actions of a minority individual. He most likely wants to avoid confrontation. I have often witnessed this kind of counter attack by a member of minority youth in many parts of the world. I think it is because of the influence of the modern western society where anyone can demand one's rights. It is an inevitable phenomenon in the era of globalization. We Japanese can learn something from the attitude of minority youth because we are usually too timid and naive outside Japan to react.