Every now and then, I come across an instance of prejudice and bigotry that makes no sense. These are fringe occurrences in the year 2024 but these incidents should be noted nonetheless as they are a part of life. This incident did not happen to me, so whether it occurred is hearsay.
An immigrant man from Ukraine and an immigrant woman from Ireland met at a hotel lobby in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The man struck up a conversation with the woman but she was preoccupied and busy cleaning the floor. The man persisted and for his troubles, the woman spilled a bucket of water on the man. Drenched in water, the man was drawn to the feisty nature of his assailant/smile. One thing led to another and, improbably, the two got married.
They had a daughter, half Ukrainian and half Irish. The daughter became a lovely young woman. One day, she and her friend observed a black Cuban man chatting up another woman outside a bar. All was not what it seemed, however. The man was not interested in the woman being chatted up. He was attracted to the half Ukrainian/half Irish young woman. The two eventually met and began dating. Like many Cubans, the young suitor was of mixed-race ancestry.
One day, the two fell in love and got married. They had several children, including a son, sandy blonde hair who did not look black.
And it came to pass that the blonde son would run into a prejudiced person who gave the son grief for being black even though the son did not look black whatsoever. The son was dumbfounded. No one cared about race in his family.
What is the moral of this story?
If this story is credited (and it is only hearsay), it is a prime example of what young people today mean by racism. It is the personal prejudice and bigotry that stings, not structural or systemic anything. It is the randomness, the arbitrary senseless encounter with the individual that stuns and demoralizes. When we frame the problem as one of impersonal forces, we are letting individuals off the hook for bad behavior.
Prejudice did not prevent a Ukrainian immigrant from marrying an Irish immigrant. Nor did bigotry come in the way between the love of their daughter for a black Cuban man. It was only in the third generation, a generation of a grandson white in all physical appearance, that race prejudice and bigotry found its mark in the larger world.
Something to consider this evening…in the twilight zone of race.
Actor Wentworth Miller III (1972 - ), White in Physical Appearance, Black in Identity