I'm Not A Racist, But . . .

Have you ever been involved in a conversation where someone dropped that line on you?

I was standing around at work the other day, bullshitting with one of my less-liked coworkers, who cornered me while i was making some tea. I asked her how the new girl, "Jane", was working out; my coworker glanced around, dropped her voice a few octaves (which didn't help, believe me), and told me that Jane's work ethic was sub-par.

I'm going to interrupt myself to give you a bit of background info on Jane: She's worked here before. She was fast, efficient, friendly, and a genuinely likable person, even if she did take twenty years to tell a story. She was fired for attendance issues, but this was all before my coworker's time, so she just assumed that Jane was fired for being a shitty worker.

Curious about what had changed, i asked my coworker what she meant by Jane's work ethic being sub par. I immediately regretted asking as my coworker launched into a long, rambling, incoherent diatribe about Jane's habits. She takes too long on her breaks. She takes too many breaks. She's too flirty with "John" (the other technician on the midnight shift). She leaves early. She doesn't check in packages right. She's moody. And so on.

Eventually her general complaining narrowed down to what her real problem was: John and Jane get along very well, and John and my coworker never have. John and Jane got along very well the first time Jane worked here, and their reunion was a happy one; now my coworker feels like she's on the outside looking in. Then she dropped the million dollar disclaimer on me:

"I'm not a racist or anything, but i don't come to this job so that i can get ganged up on by a pair of darkies. So sorry i don't live in the ghetto!"

And just as she said that, two of my other coworkers walked by and raised their eyebrows at us before walking on. Fucking great! I've just been privy to a racist remark, in front of witnesses.

What happened next was unimportant and unremarkable, but my point is this: when people say dumb shit like that, it makes the other person look like they're a part of the conversation, rather than the recipient of an unwelcome view point. The passers-by assume that the other person (in this case, me) shares that sentiment, and make judgments about both parties. If my boss didn't know me better, and if John weren't a good friend of mine, i could have been in a lot of trouble just for standing there when my coworker said that.

So the next time someone says, "I'm not a racist, but. . . [insert generalized racially-motivated comment here]" in your vicinity, walk away as soon as you hear the first four words. And if you're one of these people who says things like that, i got news for ya, Pal: That disclaimer doesn't make your racist remark any less so for having said it before making your statement. If you make derogatory comments based on someone's skin colour, you're a racist. Period. And fuck you for making the rest of us look like assholes for being polite enough to stand there and listen to you.