Blog 4: Privilege

When tasked with writing a story about either oppression or privilege, I had a difficult time thinking of situations in which I felt oppressed. However, there was one particular experience in which I acknowledged my privilege that immediately came to mind. This occurred while my family and I were on a road trip down to Florida for my cousin's wedding. We were driving through Tennessee when we decided to stop at a restaurant for lunch. It was one of those small local restaurants that came across as similar to a Denny's but with better food. When we entered, I happened to notice that there was another family in front of us which happened to be African-American. We walked up to the waitress and asked when we could be seated, to which she replied "immediately". My father and I were very confused by this, but followed her to the section she had set aside for us, near the front of the restaurant. We ordered our food and were eagerly awaiting it when I glanced up and saw that the other family had finally been summoned and were following the waitress to their table. I watched her lead them past our section and towards the back of the restaurant, which was dimly lit and lacked the space that ours did. It was at this point that I noticed that they weren't the only African American family in that far back section, so I questioned my mom about why they were all sitting farther away from the rest of the people. She informed me that we were in a different part of the country now and that "things are different here." This was one of my most influential encounters with segregation, which I had been taught in school was over, but which I found alive and well in the South. My younger self couldn't comprehend why the separation existed, but looking back on it now, I see that its one of many remnants of a horrible system that our country had in place at one time. Along with being forced to wait longer for a table when several were readily available, the African-American family also had to be seated in a less desirable part of the restaurant due to the color of their skin. I can't believe that this behavior still exists and it's one of many reasons why I have no desire to visit the southern states again in my life.

While not explicitly stated, the rules of many years ago are still enforced by certain people today. Some individuals are still holding to the ideals that their parents and grandparents believed in, even though those ideals hold certain people to be better than others based on race.