Walking while Black is an experience that White people will never experience firsthand. It’s not always a challenge, but too often it can be a challenge. How? Usually it manifests as the feeling (or verification) that you’re being treated differently, and less welcoming by folks who aren’t Black. I could be just walking around the neighborhood you’ve lived in for decades. It could be while shopping, purchasing tickets, approaching an Information Booth of some sort. Essentially, going about daily business and just trying to get things done. Suddenly you’re keenly aware that you are “The Other”.
In this show I list the various ways that I have received this treatment to try and illustrate what it feels and looks like for those who will never walk in my shoes. In addition, I hope that Black folks listening will recognize and relate to some of these incidents. Although Corvallis is referenced in the show title, these occurrences happen in towns and cities across the US.
Note: I’m speaking in terms of Black and White in this particular program, because that is my story. But please know that many of my friends who are of Asian and Latin descent have their own similar versions of this phenomena. Listeners: Do you see yourself in these stories – either from my point-of-view, or as one of those people I’m interacting with?
- KBOO