The Race Card

Hello All,
Today's post is going to touch on a sensitive issue: race. I'm not planning on saying anything offensive, but if you are upset/confused/amused by anything that I say, please feel free to comment/email me about it. I'm open to discussion. Otherwise, I wouldn't write a blog!

Before I start: Hi Reenuka! Hi Ravi! (And Demi, Emily, Eileen...sorry if I missed anyone MISS YOU ALL)

So, race. Coming as a white person from America, being a minority here has turned the tables in a few ways that made me think a bit. First off, the obvious: When my fellow students and I walk together, people hard-core stare at us. When I walk by myself home from the clinic, people stare but not quite as openly. Still, I stick out quite a bit. And the truth is, I've found myself doing the same thing when I see another white person in the mall or on the road. It's an adjustment, but so far one that I sort of anticipated.

On the other hand, one element has suprised me: The media. I remember reading and hearing complaints that ads in the US disproportionately feature white people, and that white people play most of the important characters on shows, etc. I sort of nodded along to these, since it seemed logical. It's a lot more striking, however, when pretty much every single ad and commercial features Black actors. I don't mean to imply that this is a problem, but it did make me realize that I'm used to seeing myself (or at least, my race) reflected back to me in ways that I may not be conscious of most of the time.

The same has happened with, of all things, fashion. I bought a copy of New African Woman magazine as part of an assignment to read local literature (and it turned out to be quite interesting, actually). After flipping through it a bit, I realized that I could completely skip all of the sections on hair and make-up suggestions...because they were all geared for hair and skin-type completely different from mine. It makes sense, of course. There's no reason to cater magazine articles to the tiny white minority in Botswana- but it definitely made me aware of how my life in America is affected by my being white.

Speaking of race, people LOVE Obama here. They tend not to know much about him or his politics, but he's definitely seen as an African, or at least closer to Africa than other presidents. After the US-Ghana game, some people were chanting something along the lines of, "Go home, USA! Come home, Obama!" Don't tell the birthers, they'll use it as evidence.

(In case you were wondering, I'm probably not going to get dreadlocks, speaking of hair. It would be possible, but a pain to take out.)