Sunday, August 05, 2007

You love my smile, no matter how chipped my toof is.



So a few months ago, my husband I went to Ruth's Chris steakhouse for dinner. I think it was a Friday night, we made reservations, that whole deal. So we go inside, and the hostess begins to take us to our seats.

The restaurant is pretty empty, with lots of tables open. The hostess takes us to our booth, which is in the back of the restaurant right by the kitchen. Hmmm...

My first instinct is to say, "Oh, she's sitting us back here in the colored section." I could get pissed, but I don't want to ruin our evening out, so I let it go.

Then I see the next group that are seated by us: An Asian guy and his white wife. A little later, the table next to them: a black woman with her two kids. The black woman said something to the hostess, and they left our hole...never to be seen again.

Why am I writing about this? I think to just give you glimpse into what my life is like. Our dinner was fine, our server was nice and the food was good. I just think it's weird that the only three parties with people of color in them were in the most secluded part of the restaurant. Was it racially motivated? I don't know...and I'll never know. That's what's so annoying about it, it's not like the hostess would admit that was the reason, even if she was asked directly. Was the hostess even aware that that was happening? If so, what was the reasoning for it?

I think that this is one of those situations that the term "ignorance is bliss" was created for. If I was just someone who didn't pay attention to my surroundings, I wouldn't have been annoyed by this, and I might be a happier person.

The problem is people of color can't go around thinking that everything is cool when it comes to racism, because at some point or another a situation will occur where there is no question, "This person has a serious problem with me because of the color of my skin." You don't want to be caught unawares during that situation, so you always just kind of have your feelers out.

According to sitemeter, people are actually reading this. Awesome. Feel free to leave me a comment :)