Written by a white woman

It all happened so fast I might not have noticed.  No one blinked an eye, no one winced, no one commented.  I was working in the Public Relations department of a large corporation and we were doing a special event at a local middle school, which had a very racially diverse student population.  I arrived at the school early in the morning and was supposed to meet Mr. Johnson, the assistant principal, outside. It was still pretty dark out and as I got out of the car I could see two men standing across the parking lot.  As I approached, I saw that the tall one was white and the shorter one was black. I walked up to the white man and said, “Mr. Johnson?” As I asked, I realized he had on custodian’s coveralls.  He gestured toward his companion, and the black man came into focus. He was wearing a suit jacket and a dress shirt and slacks -- obviously the assistant principal.

Commentary to African American Vignette #14

The author comments:

My first, almost unconscious, perception had been of the man’s race.  I automatically chose the white man as the one in authority, without looking further to see who they really were.

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