Slave Driver Comment By A Coworker

I almost bit my tongue off as a coworker made the following comment, "Gosh, you're a real slave driver." I stopped and said a little prayer to myself, "Lord give me the ability to control my tongue (and foot) and wisdom not to verbally beat my coworker down. Amen." After my prayer and 10 seconds of silence I said in a loving voice, "Slave Driver...An overseer of slaves at work? What do you mean by that comment? Slave Driver?" She then back peddled and apologized profusely. "I'm sorry...I'm sorry...Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! I'm sorry...I'm sorry...I didn't mean to offend your people. I am so sorry that was so insensitive of me to say that when your people have done so much. I'm sorry...I'm sorry." Then I took a step back and said, "Your people? What people?" She then turned a funny shade of red and said, "I'm sorry...I'm sorry...I am so insensitive and I didn't even realize it!"

Eureka! It is amazing how you can say so little and allow folks to discover so much about themselves!

A Student Said What?

A student asked me,
"Can I do community service to increase my grade in your class?"
All I could do was look at him. My inside voice said,
"Are you freaking serious. I am not a darn parole officer. I am a professor!"
My outside voice translated my inside voice comment,
"No sir, you can not do community service to increase your grade however, you can do your assignments, come to class, and pay attention to increase your grade."

Uncultured Moments

I have decided to take a stand. For the next 6 months (or more) I will tweet and blog about uncultured moments. What is an uncultured moment? Glad you asked.  For this blog and my tweets an uncultured moment is when someone says or does something that is culturally insensitive/offensive.

Case #1 – On Radio Show

I was listening to the radio. An African American Male radio personality on the ___________ show began to talk about the recent shooting of zoo animals that were freed before the owner committed suicide. In the middle of sharing the story the radio personality then said, “White people put your guns up it is not President Obama or Herman Cain... those are real monkeys out there.”

GabbyL Response

What is the heck?!? Are you serious? So you are equating the President of the United States and a possible Republican nominee to a monkey. Are you serious? Although a monkey is an intelligent animal you are belittling two African American Men to monkeys.  Shame on you! Is it ok to openly equate them as monkeys because you are an African American? So in other words are you also calling yourself a monkey? As an African American I am offended by the remark…I am NOT a monkey! ___________I love your show…but this was wrong. Correct the ignorance… do not justify the ignorance of others!

Case #2 – On Local News

I was watching the local news, ___________. The local news anchor was investigating the lack of funding for different schools in the area. As he was interviewing an African American woman she made the following remark, “It is like we are the lowest on the totem pole…. We don’t get basic necessities.”

GabbyL Response

What the heck?1? Are you serious? I understand that you have an issue with the school system. I understand. But should you make such an insensitive remark? What if someone else said something like, “ It is like we are in the ghetto. Or it is like we are in the rural country farm shacks.” This may not be a big deal to you but, it is offensive to others!

Case #3 –On College Campus

A senator visited a college campus. She was introduced to a student. The student’s last name was a traditional Hispanic last name Chavez (In order to protect the student I used a common last name.). The senator replied, “There are a lot of Italians down here.”

GabbyL Response

What the heck?!? Are you serious? Wow! I was really blow away by this one. This is a person who was voted into office. It is apparent that ignorance is in the senate (of course this is not the first example in the world of ignorance in the senate. However, I hope it is the last!) I can remember the words of a wise person... it is better to remain quite and appear wise than to open your mouth and to appear a fool. Senator shame on you! It would have been better if you were trying to appear cultured to simply ask the student about her culture instead of playing a cultural roulette guessing game!

Case #4 – On TV

I was watching a national morning show. The TV host was interviewing a celebrity mom. The host asked the celebrity mom if her daughter was going to give the ring back. The celebrity mom then replied, “'I hate an Indian giver. It’s a gift…keep your gift.” Then TV host went on to say (without thinking), “The quote of the day… nobody likes an Indian giver.”

GabbyL Response

What the heck?!? Are you serious? Well it was bad enough that the celebrity mom said it … but TV host personality shame on you! What about an early settler/American stealer/killer? Come on folks this is insensitivity to the utmost. We are supposed to examples for others! I love this morning show! TV personality, I love you too!  Don’t fall into the insensitivity traps of others! Correct the ignorance… do not justify the ignorance of others!