Latino/Latina Vignette #3

A white woman working for a county mental health agency is in the midst of organizing the registration table for a conference that begins later in the day. A Latino co-worker who is a psychologist asks her how he can help.  She replies, “I don’t really need you here.  Why don’t you go help out in the kitchen.”  He snaps back, “I’ll just pretend I didn’t hear that” and walks away.

Commentary to Latino/Latina Vignette #3

We don’t really know where the white co-worker was coming from when she made the suggestion to go help out in the kitchen, but the Latino psychologist was obviously offended by it.  One way of understanding his reaction is to remind ourselves that in this country persons of color have often been relegated to serving white people in various ways - maids, janitors, valets, wash room attendants, gardeners etc.

Historically, many whites have assumed that members of non-white groups have inferior intelligence and are less capable of performing complex mental tasks.  This history of demeaning people of color has a consequence: sometimes they may be sensitive around issues related to intelligence and status.

This sensitivity is not limited to people of color but applies to all of us. When we have been repeatedly put down and disrespected in a specific way we become especially tender and more easily triggered in this area.

If the Latino psychologist confronted the white woman about her suggestion that he work in the kitchen, she may have replied, “I would have said the same thing to a white person.” And she may have.

It’s also possible that the women’s comment was based on a, perhaps unconscious, stereotype about Latinos being more suited for menial tasks than for mental work requiring organizational skills.  We don’t know.  It is this sense of uncertainty that often plagues people of color when they interact with white folks.  Is the white woman just preoccupied or is her attitude toward me as a Latino, an attitude she may be loathe to admit even to herself, leaking out in her directing me to the kitchen?

Go to next vignette>>

<<Return to Vignette Index

(Return to Home)