August 9, 2006
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Being Studiously Ignored
It happened again today as I was walking home with the kids from swim lessons at the local city pool. I said "hi" to a girl dawdling on the sidewalk as we strolled/bounced/ran past her, and was carefully utterly snubbed.
 
I'm not oversensitive: I'm the guy who simply did not notice when my freshman roommate short-sheeted my bed to get back at me for my relentless cheerfulness. (the prank's failure irked him even more, I'm afraid) But this happens often enough that even I begin to notice: I am often studiously ignored, in this neighborhood.
 
The girl looked to be about 12 or 13, African-American, and she had watched us approach for half a block or so. She wasn't interested in avoiding us, as she had plenty of time to cross the street or go into a house or simply step away from the sidewalk. She was making a deliberate point by ignoring all four of us.
 
What point she meant to make, I can only guess. It could be any number of things:
1. You white folks are not welcome here.
2. Sort of a "payback-ignoring" for all the times she has been studiously ignored by whites or other races.
3. White folks can't raise Black kids. (or if they do, they do it to cooperate in the destruction of Black American culture, trying to make oreos of us all-- e.g. I won't fraternize with you, the enemy)
4. Rich people need to be taken down a notch.
5. USC people need to be taken down a notch. (a subtle but important distinction)
6. I don't talk to strangers.
7. I am in junior high and feeling moody, leave me alone.If #2 or #7 are her reasons (and in my opinion these are most likely in this case), I totally understand.
I really hope it isn't #6 ("Stranger Danger" was a well-intended but sadly misguided program that did much damage to community and racial healing in America) or #3 (kids shouldn't be that sophisticated in their racism at that age).
My wife and I have neither attended nor taught at USC, which we thought of as our cross-town rivals, so being mistaken for USC students or faculty still sort of bothers me.That leaves plain old racism and classism.
Those are the two big barriers we face as we try to knit ourselves into this new neighborhood. This young lady might only have been acting her age, but being ignored comes with the territory when you're the new folks on the block in an urban neighborhood.
Come to think of it, it's better than some more assertive alternatives I can imagine.
Comments (6)
Wow. Is she local? Do you recognize her as a neighborhood girl who knows who you are? I am eager to see what kind of issues I encounter meshing into my hispanic community over here in Whittier.
Yup, she lives on the next block over. Pretty much everyone seems to know something about us, often wrong: someone thought I was a commercial pilot for some reason.
Amazing how folks talk... probably down at the barber shop or something. I bet there is a lot of talk about you guys. In fact, although I'd be leaning toward #7, I'd almost be tempted to say she was just scared. What do you say to people as outside of her previous experience as you guys?
Usually just "Hey," nod and smile (or "Bueno" or "Namaste" or "salaam aleikum" etc. depending on your best guess of their language).
Maybe you're right about "scared", though I don't think so... we have a USC professor and several USC students on our block, and current gossip is all about how USC is planning to buy up all the property/wangle "eminent domain" and evict us all, bulldoze the homes, and expand the campus. Several blocks north of us, one block was turned into an artificial cul-de-sac and thoroughly regentrified by an assortment of professionals, retirees and USC faculty. That scared some people... so maybe you're right.
you guys are from ucla?? wow, all those years and i never knew... i find out new things about you every time i read this blog! :p
No, no! Kathryn and I are Claremont McKenna College alumni, a small liberal arts college 45minutes inland. Enough of our freshman peers had friends at USC who had been rejected by CMC that we enjoyed calling it "University of Second Choice".
But my dad, my youngest brother, my former boss and my longest-term client are all UCLA people, so I'm cool with the blue & gold crowd. And we have lived or worked near USC for so long, it has grown on us too.