While waiting for a light to change in front of the mall, we were rammed from the back of our car into the car in front of us. It was a surreal experience. It felt like my mom and I were on a roller coaster ride, and our bodies were moving back and forward in a jarring and uncontrollable way. My glasses flew off of my face, my moms hat flew off, and finally when the car stopped moving, we both just checked to see if each other were okay. We were both shaken up, and concerned for each other's health (my mom just had a hip replacement surgery in August). Before we could get out of our car to figure out what had happened, the woman in front of us jumped out and immediately called my mom a "F*ckin Moron"! My mom got out of the car and explained to the woman that she was not the person who had caused the accident, and that the person in the car behind us was to blame. The woman continued to scream obscenities to my mother, which made my mom furious. My mom demanded an apology from the woman who refused, and told my mother she needed to "Stop talking", and to "be quiet". Finally the woman made her way to the gentleman's car behind my moms, and as soon as she saw him immediately started calling him a "F*ckin Moron" and told him, "I know you don't have insurance". The police came to the scene, and handled everything in a very fast and professional manner.
My mom and I were blessed to walk away from a totaled car. The thing that bothered me most about the whole awful incident was the woman's behavior. She was white, my mother is black, and the man was Hispanic. As soon as she saw each of our ethnicities she treated us according to the stereotypes that are attached to our ethnic backgrounds. Not once did she ask us if we were okay given the fact that our car was the only vehicle that was totaled, and as soon as she saw that the man who had caused the accident was Hispanic she immediately assumed that he had no insurance. She had an all too familiar sense of entitlement that hindered her to really be present in what had really happened. She was not able to be a "human" first, and white woman second, and because of this made horrible decisions.
I only pray that on this Christmas Eve, that some how some way she becomes made aware of her false sense of entitlement, and discards it. We live in a world that is changing fast and where minorities in the US are the majority in the world. As Americans the only way that we can move forward in the right direction is if we check our privilege!!
