When I was a kid in the 1960s, I would occasionally hear someone older say "All Black people look alike." Well, they probably said colored people or something worse. I thought that was odd, since the kids in my school certainly didn't look alike (except the twins). The hometown people stopped saying that (as far as I knew) in the 1970s. Much later I considered that was probably due to the explosion of TV sitcoms led by Black actors, like The Jeffersons and Sanford and Son. Back then, folks in my small Kentucky town tended to quit socializing outside of their race after high school graduation. I went to college out of state.
But that effect rose again later. When we found our best chance of adoption was to go to China, my husband and I started obsessing on Asian babies and children. We read books, cut pictures from magazines, and swooned anytime we saw an Asian child on the streets. In China, we had no trouble recognizing anyone we encountered more than once. All six babies in our group looked totally different (of course, mine was the prettiest). But when Princess started school and brought her friends over for parties, it struck me that I couldn't tell the white girls apart. Mind, I was older than the average mom at the time, and hadn't socialized with a lot of children for many years. I got better with time. I still have a hard time wrapping my head around strangers asking if my daughters are biological sisters. In appearance, the only thing they have in common is that they are beautiful and not white.
It's easy to argue that the cross-race effect isn't racist. However, it does tell you that someone hasn't been around -or hasn't paid attention to- people outside their racial group. At Dr. Dolittle's wedding, one local woman said it was the most diverse group she'd ever been in. My first thought was, uh, you need to get out more. Thinking about it later, I realized that for a group of only 60 people in one room, it was strikingly diverse, but it was nothing compared to a big city street or a military base.
Wednesday, July 30, 2025
The Cross-race Effect
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4 comments:
I always enjoy your writing, Miss C.
Thank you. My dad was quite the storyteller, and I've turned into an old lady version of him.
Recently attended a wedding done more or less traditionally for a M/F couple in their early 30s. I noted that about a third of their friends, which was half the wedding guests at least, were either transgender or some version of queer. I mentioned this to another old Baby Boomer who looked startled and said, "Really? I only noticed the guy wearing a dress."
Years ago I had a criminal defense client who wanted me to use the "all blacks look alike" defense for his shoplifting. Funnily enough, the defense that worked was: you (prosecutor) are the one who told me he's a drug dealer; don't you think he's a little long in the tooth to change careers? They dismissed the case!
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