Yup, Me Too

Last month while waiting in line for the airport security check, I heard a child's voice and thought she may have been lost. Having young nieces as well as all the news reports of kidnappings of kids, well, I'm attuned to responding to kids who may seem lost. Rather than ignore, I usually try to find out who the kid "belongs" to and help locate the parent(s).

 So I turn to a woman that's near me in line and asked, "Is she with the wrong parents?" I know, a strange way to put it but it just came out my mouth that way. In any case, the woman glared at me and said in a cold voice, "Oh, she's with the RIGHT parents." I looked at her and saw that she was White and saw the child (who I didn't see before; I only heard her voice) who, guess what, was Black. 

 Yikes. 

 I clearly was misunderstood and I clearly offended her. I simply froze even as much as I wanted to apologize to her (I really wish now that I did). I'm sure she was thinking that I was being racially biased about her as a White woman with a Black child. Of course I wasn't because I didn't even see the child until the woman angrily responded to me. However, as we know, my intent as helpful as I was trying to be, didn't matter. What mattered is that she felt the impact of what I'm sure is a daily occurrence of people who respond negatively to her mixed race family. 

 So, as racially and culturally aware as I am, I realized that "Yup, me too" when it comes to misunderstanding and causing hurt. All I can do is learn and, next time, sincerely offer a humble and sincere apology even if it's rebuffed. It's all I can do but maybe, just maybe, it can make a difference.

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