Marginal People

Mark Twain’s “autobiography” manuscript has been deplored by some as being often incomprehensible by Twain’s habit of talking about anything that happens to pop into his head. Myself, I don’t have a particular issue with it, and in that spirit I want to talk about something I observed a few days ago. I happened to observed an Asian female, probably a “visitor,” board the bus I was riding on. She took a panicky look toward the back and decided to stand right behind the driver. The bus was half empty, but apparently she saw a lot of “scary” people—i.e. people of differing colors. She stood in position for about 45 minutes, even on the highway; every once in awhile she would take an apprehensive look behind her. The driver never told her to find a seat, even when the bus was shaking and rolling. If one chooses to think about such behavior, it would seem rather offensive that someone would regard you in such a dehumanizing light, that they would make such racist judgments on your humanity. Of course, white women (especially those who have a peculiar idea that everyone finds them irresistible), also behave strangely, although not as often or as pointedly.

There is, of course, a “logical” explanation for this Asian woman’s behavior. Countries like Japan are known for their raging homogeneity, and even Koreans, who are “imported” to do menial labor, are considered too racially “impure” to allow to become citizens, and generally “invisible.” When Barack Obama was elected president, many Chinese expressed shock that the U.S. would elect a man of a color that they thought was reserved for janitorial labor. Japanese politicians, whenever the issue of trade imbalances surface, try to shift attention away from their own trade policies and try to shift the blame to blacks and Latinos who have absolutely nothing to do with the original discussion, and try to make their homogeneity an “asset.” It seems never to occurred to them if whites occupy all the technical jobs, then it hardly makes sense to blame blacks and Latinos for white failings. Frankly, I believe a limited worldview is somewhat on the pathetic side, and being “frightened” by people who look different than you is to marginalize yourself within the wider world. You are, after all, nothing more than another ship passing in night, going unnoticed.