What pissed you off today?

Gráinne · 06-21-2011, 09:08 PM

I call this "Attack of the Giant Assumptions"

I was in a class, and the teacher opened with one of those darn icebreaker activities. This one was a kind of "Bingo", with questions in squares. The questions were mostly things like "Someone who has three or more kids", or "Someone who has run a marathon". You had to circulate around and find those people, and they signed the correct box (did that make sense?).

First, there is one African-American woman in the class. As soon as the teacher said "Go", everyone else was swarming around her. The reason? One of the questions was "Someone who knows what Juneteenth is". I couldn't believe one student actually said, "I'm sure you'd know what that is!"

Another question was "Someone who knows what a Seder is". People were searching all over for someone to sign that one, and I'm just sitting there, sort of amused. Finally, I spoke up, and I cannot be sure, but I think someone really said "You don't look Jewish"

. If I'd really heard that clearly, I might have snapped back, "Yeah, neither did Sammy Davis Jr. and Marilyn Monroe." What do Jews look like, anyway?

What if the Black woman hadn't been born in America, or otherwise didn't know what Juneteenth is? Assumptions, anyone?

06-21-2011, 09:08 PM	#1
Gráinne Senior Member How Do You Identify?: Neither, nada, out of the box Preferred Pronoun?: My name always works Relationship Status: Happy whatever happens Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Little Rock Posts: 1,864 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 2,118 Thanked 7,386 Times in 1,457 Posts Rep Power: 21474852	I call this "Attack of the Giant Assumptions" I was in a class, and the teacher opened with one of those darn icebreaker activities. This one was a kind of "Bingo", with questions in squares. The questions were mostly things like "Someone who has three or more kids", or "Someone who has run a marathon". You had to circulate around and find those people, and they signed the correct box (did that make sense?). First, there is one African-American woman in the class. As soon as the teacher said "Go", everyone else was swarming around her. The reason? One of the questions was "Someone who knows what Juneteenth is". I couldn't believe one student actually said, "I'm sure you'd know what that is!" Another question was "Someone who knows what a Seder is". People were searching all over for someone to sign that one, and I'm just sitting there, sort of amused. Finally, I spoke up, and I cannot be sure, but I think someone really said "You don't look Jewish" . If I'd really heard that clearly, I might have snapped back, "Yeah, neither did Sammy Davis Jr. and Marilyn Monroe." What do Jews look like, anyway? What if the Black woman hadn't been born in America, or otherwise didn't know what Juneteenth is? Assumptions, anyone? __________________ The odds of going to the store for a loaf of bread and coming out with only a loaf of bread are three billion to one. ~Erma Bombeck