Everyday racism - the racists and the young bus driver
On a bus one day, I saw stark human ugliness demonstrated in a way that couldn’t be denied or explained away. It was pretty much an ordinary bus drive with a young, inexperienced bus driver. I have been on quite a few of those, and so have my fellow passengers that day. But for some reason, my fellow passengers were unusually agitated. Every time he made a mistake, they raised their voices and hassled him like they would the worst rapist or something. The driver was brown-skinned and an immigrant, and the reason for people’s ugly behavior suddenly became abundantly clear to me.
I still don’t understand it. I never will. Racism will never make sense to me. But the reason became increasingly clear as the journey progressed.
Some people call this everyday racism. I see it quite simply as racism, pure and simple, as ugly as those people’s faces. There was nothing rational about it, only pure, undulated intolerance. I kept comparing their behavior to when young, white guys had been just as inexperienced, and done the same, or even worse mistakes. Believe me, there is no comparison.
This can’t be explained away or pulled under a rug. A large number of the passengers was racists, pretty much mirroring a large part of the Norwegian population. This wasn’t one, isolated event, but pretty much exposing the ugly, unmistakable truth.
They had become what was basically a unified mob, united in purpose and hatred.
Everyday racism is small, often unnoticeable things to those not looking for it or experiencing it at the receiving end, but it can easily grow into what I’ve just described. Everyday racism had, by the snapping of fingers become a full-blooded display of the worst possible human conduct.