Minority Views
Kate and I had a belated Valentines evening on Saturday (belated not because of me forgetting it the first time round but because of Kate’s brother John and Jenny’s generous babysitting and bill footing – thanks very much John and Jenny). We spent sometime hanging around Oxford like normal people; casually browsing in bookshops and sitting on Starbuck’s couches until closing time. We ate at Kazbar (photos), which is fabulous and worth a visit if you’re around Oxford and looking for a great night out. We had many conversations of course, and some of those were based around Kate’s amazing ability to observe her surroundings and listen in to other people’s conversation.
One such observation was of a group of 5 people at the table across the aisle. The group friends included 3 white males, 1 white female and 1 female of Asian origin. I point out the racial differences because it became the topic of observation and comment. ‘Does she (the Asian) feel anything about her minority in that situation?’ was I think the opening question. The following assumptions, observations and conclusions brought us to a place where we recognised that everyone in that circle had their own minorities. Two of the white males turned out to be in a romantic relationship and thus in a cultural minority because of their sexual orientation. This made the other white man the only heterosexual male in the group (presumably since he was with the white female). The white female was of course a minority in the first place but we didn’t see it. In fact, since we only observed the homosexual relationship on closer inspection what we actually saw in the first place was our own racial prejudices and nothing to do with the actual minorities on the table across the way from us.
Of course, as it turns out we are all, each one of us, a minority in theory and in practice to a greater or lesser extent depending on the changing circumstance of our daily lives. If we don’t know what it feels like to be a minority it is only because we live our lives in the safety of numbers!
(photo care of and © jade2001ad – thanks)
