Racial Faux Pas

Have you ever had someone address your race to your ability to do something? Everyday African Americans like myself have dealt with race being correlated with are ability to articulate,communicate, or conquer some type of outstanding accomplishment. In the essay " Excuse me your race is showing" Author Karen Bates describes some events that her fellow associates and her herself have encountered while being black in America. Her essay describes how whites or others often think about blacks. They are illiterate, "Ghetto", work in low paying jobs, poor, only successful in sports and entertainment,and lazy. She describes their actions towards blacks and how it is very much of a Faux Pas in social etiquette. Many cases of these Faux Pas occur everyday, where its someone saying " I didn't realize you were black when i spoke to you over the phone, your very articulate." or Handing someone the keys to your car because they look like valet, even those statements like "all black people can dance", and "do you work here?" even when you see that the person doesn't have a work shirt on. Its common courtesy, all blacks don't make statements like, "I didn't realize you were white, you have so much common sense," or ask "what trailer park complex you live in"? We do just assume because they are white that they are any less or anymore then they are as a person. Unfortunately, i believe whites subliminally do that to keep blacks in that mindset of never being better than what they already are. Statements like that can have powerful holds over people, because your not only belittling their race but questioning their authority,social status, and their intelligence. And there is nothing more outraging then someone questioning your ability to think for yourself. "Excuse me your race is showing" depicts how ill viewed blacks are in America today and shows that some whites don't have the proper etiquette to know when to say or do things at certain times or even at all.