Habits

On Monday, we talked a little about habits and how they can play a role in racism. I had never thought about this before, but this type of racism absolutely happens, all of the time from everybody, without even thinking about it. I’m not sure who said it in class, but they compared it to how you greet someone as you walk by them on your way to class. You don’t really stop and think about what the other person said; instead you already have a response for the habitual act of greeting somebody. Everyone’s guilty of this. When someone walks by and asks “hey what’s up” the usual response is “I’m good”. The response “I’m good” is not an answer to their question but you are so use to greeting someone as saying “I’m good” that you immediately say that without thinking. This can definitively be converted into racism. For instance the first day of class when we all sat down. Did we sit next to people that look like us? The answer is most likely. This is because we have formed habits of staying in our comfort zone, and for most of us that comfort zone is sitting and surrounding ourselves with people that make us feel comfortable, which in most cases translates into people that look like us, or are the same as us. What I’m trying to say is that this type of racism occurs all of the time, and I never thought about it until Monday, and I am glad that I am aware of this now.