_Uneasy in a Car

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School

Marion Technical College *

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MISC

Subject

English

Date

Oct 30, 2023

Type

docx

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Uploaded by KidCrown13321

Uneasy in a Car A few months ago, my mother, my two sisters, and I found ourselves in Toledo, OH. During our drive, my mother urgently needed to use the bathroom, so we made a stop at a restaurant near Toledo University. Upon arriving, we made the decision for my sisters and me to remain in the car and watch a movie. As we were engrossed in the film, a tall and suspicious- looking man caught our attention. He was slowly walking by our car with his hood up, dressed entirely in black. This encounter created a sense of unease among my sisters and me. With apprehension, we all lowered our heads and patiently waited for him to pass by. After a few minutes, I decided to look and see if he had left, and when I realized he did I was relieved. I asked my sisters if they were as uncomfortable as I was and they were if not more. During our conversation, my sister mentioned that she was scared because at first glance the phone in his hand looked like a gun. After a few minutes, we all had the time to calm down and my mom returned to the car. When we told her what happened she assured us that we did the right thing by just keeping our heads down just in case something happened. She also said that we had nothing to worry about and that he was just minding his business. We all decided to go get some ice cream and go home. By the time we got home, I still felt a little uneasy from the encounter. As I look back on this incident I realize now how easily society can profile someone and be uncomfortable around them. The man who was walking by our car that day was a middle-aged black man. He could have been middle to lower class based on the area of Toledo that we were in. The man and I didn't differ that much. I am a Half-white half black teenage girl born and raised in the rural city of Marion, Ohio. Being from Marion Ohio I haven't really had an encounter with someone like this. I was already anxious being in that part of toledo when we arrived so i was over compinsating my actions because I had heard so much about gangs and things like that in that area. After reading some articles I now realize that I was being prejudiced and psychologically racist. My Racial Bias led me to believe that the man could have been dangerous because of his behaviors and appearance (2020, Hollander Intro to Race). I was letting myself code-switch and was in turn classifying him because of the way he looked (The Cost of Code Switching, Chandra Arthur). If the same situation were to happen again I would like to believe that I would put my individual bias aside and try not to think about people’s races as much as I have in the past( 2020, Hollander Overview of diversity).

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