“A Black Woman’s Peek Inside a White Man’s Mind”  by Christiane Campbell

I wonder what’s inside the white man’s mind. As someone living in America who is arguably on the lowest rank of the totem pole racially and sex-wise, a Black woman, I always wondered what went on in the minds of the highest in society, white men. So, I chose to ask a white man about his values in respect to race to get a glimpse into the white mind. I chose the generic-looking, pale skin, blue eyes, wavy brunette hair, white guy. Not only did I learn about what can be inside a white mind, but also that what they think and feel is often what I think and feel too. 

The first question I asked was a rather pointed one, “Have you ever witnessed and/or participated in prejudice or racism? If so, what were your thoughts and emotions afterwards?”. I asked this question because it was my way of fulfilling my curiosity as to what was said about POC (People Of Color) behind closed doors. What smack were they talking, if any at all? My wonderings were easily extinguished when my interviewee, David (pseudonym) said that he was raised in a household where although the perspectives were conservative, speech conveying racism towards other races was “looked down upon”. I thought this to be very interesting because I had always equated “conservative” with “racist”. David’s background takes place in an area of America where people possessed views that would be appropriately placed on the right side of the political spectrum. He was raised in a homogenous town in central Virginia that was, according to David, “an interesting mix of military and redneck”. He went on to explain that a lot of the people there had stereotypical views of POC. Some of these views included that the Asian kid was the most intelligent or played musical instruments, or that the Black kid was the laziest. Some of these views came in the form of jokes, such as ones that told Hispanic kids as being born from illegal immigrants. At some point in the interview, David and I discussed his first conversation about race with another person. Now in his mid-thirties, he had this conversation with a Black person and revealed that that conversation took place only about six years ago. In other words, David had his very first conversation about race in his late twenties. His late twenties. This struck a chord with me because although he does not possess the racist views a lot of the people in his town does, it reminded me of how a lot of ignorant white people could be so much less ignorant if they had conversations about race earlier on in their lives. Statistically, most white people live in predominantly white communities and are in predominantly white social circles. If no one is talking about race in certain white communities where white people are surrounded by other white people, then it is unfortunately too easy to develop and stimulate inaccurate views of POC since there is no one in their environment kindly correcting them in conversations about race. 

Also, during this conversation with David, I realized that him and I have certain similarities and differences with our experiences. For example, one similarity that we have in discussions of race is that we both find it uncomfortable. One thing I noted was that he lit up when I said I find racial discussions uncomfortable too because he was able to find comfortability in our ability to relate to that uncomfortability. He finds it uncomfortable because “there are people you don’t know and people who don’t know what your intentions are”; I find it uncomfortable because I have skepticism towards how transparent the person is being because they’re probably uncomfortable just like me. Another example- but concerning difference- that David and I noted is that when he is pulled over by a police officer, he doesn’t have to worry about the same things that “non-White people have to worry about.” I agree with that sentiment because whenever I’m around law enforcement I always think to subtly show that my hands are clear so that they don’t fear I have a gun and shoot me. As a matter of fact, I don’t even drive yet and I think of ways to show that I am truthfully pulling out my driver’s license or registration, rather than a gun, so that I am not shot like Philando Castille . I know that the typical white person is not thinking of those extra precautions.

During this interview, I was able to get a glimpse into a white mind. I had some of my questions answered and was even able to find common ground with David. Hopefully, I can get more glimpses into more white minds in the future. 

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