Michael Braun's Blog

The United States is the only country in the world where speaking another language is considered a sign of stupidity. In other countries, around the world, the ability to speak multiple languages is considered an asset. In fact, in most European countries (and I can only assume, other nations around the world as well) it is expected that you learn multiple languages in school.

But, this is the country we live in. Today, at lunch, a co-worker of mine clumsily related an anecdote about the DMV, involving many people taking written driver’s exams in… DIFFERENT LANGUAGES! What could have been an interesting commentary about our multi-cultural society because a complaint against bad drivers, most of whom, she inferred, are Somali or Hmong (at least in the Twin Cities. No doubt Mexicans are the biggest offenders in other parts of the world).

The conversation then took an interesting turn. While I attempted to expose her faulty logic and another co-worker attempted to make jokes in ridicule, a third co-worker chimed in, noting that, “unlike [me], [she does] not believe driving is a right.” My hunch is that she also does not believe in rights to life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness. Not if your skin isn’t lily white anyway.

So there I was, again, caught in the line of racial hatred. What the fuck am I supposed to do? There’s ignorance all around us, no doubt. Turn on a great deal of comedy programs and watch them stumble over racial issues, trying to be Dave Chappelle and ending up as KKK rallies (Sarah Silverman, Carlos Mencia, even The Daily Show in a couple of recent episodes). But how often does that ignorance get passed off as witty observation or political commentary by friends and co-workers? Once is too often for me.

I forget how good I had it. When my everyday associates consisted of liberal, open-minded, racially diverse people (oh, college, how I miss thee), I never had to endure these shallowly disguised bits of racial hate. And, when I came across them, I shared them with my friends and roommates and we laughed at racial ignorance and bemoaned how stupid people are. Now, I’ve got people around me who believe the notion that “all stereotypes are rooted in truth” is a justification for using those stereotypes as basis for personal discrimination. And people who believe a casual observation means a stereotype is okay.

Let’s break this thing down for a moment. It so happens that there are few bad drivers on the road. Most drivers do not irk us with their poor skills. It also so happens (god bless the midwest) that there are few people with brown skin. Thanks to the human brain’s desire to organize and categorize and a nice phenomenon called the illusory correlation, it seems like a higher percentage of bad drivers are people with brown skin. And because the people in the DMV taking their driving tests in another language happen to also share this brown skin, people who don’t speak English as their native language must be bad drivers! Proof positive!

The conversation began to degrade soon after it started. It became clear that I was only going to get more riled up over the whole situation. And the person who made the initial comment also noted that driving is very different in other countries compared to the US. And the person who noted “driving isn’t a right” went to guard the US/Mexico border with her shotgun in tote. But that still left me shaking my head.

I think if everyone stepped back before saying something about a different group of people and asked themselves, is what I believe due to honest fact, or is it possible (just possible) that I may be making some incorrect groupings simply because I notice the color of people’s skins? It’s fine to notice; we all do that. But when we don’t stop and question our stereotypes and assumptions, that’s when we get bugged that someone would actually take a driver’s examination test in another language. What has the world come to?!