Backstage and front stage racism is all around us, but unless we know what to look for it is easy for it to go unnoticed. I have been in numerous situations where backstage racism was evident but at the time paid no attention to it and sometime was even guilty of laughing or entertaining the comments.
One of my boyfriend’s roommates is Ethiopian but was born and raised in America and acts like any other American college student. Although he is black and lives with two white roommates, he commonly used the word “nigga” when talking to them. Because he opened the door for the word to be used, the white roommates would use the word casually as well. No one said anything when it was just the three of them using it or when I was around. However, if the Ethiopian roommate had any friends over who were of African American descent, he was quick to chastise his roommates for saying “nigga.” I think this is an example of front stage racism, but at the same time, because the use of the word was not intended to hurt anyone’s feelings or as a derogatory term, I feel it is in a way backstage.
In another incident, a group of people were sitting in the living room watching a movie and had just finished eating pizza. The Ethiopian roommate came home from the library and went straight to the pizza box, after making a comment about how good it looked one of the roommates called out “Get your cotton pickin’ fingers out of my pizza!” This is an example of backstage racism but slightly more toward the front. The phrase was in reference to African American’s being slaves, but because only the Ethiopian, the roommate who made the comment and I heard, it is not quite front stage racism, but because it was said at home with friends it is considered backstage. At the time these incidents seemed minor and funny, but now I am sure the comments were hurtful and had a negative effect on the individual. If someone were to make jokes about my ethnicity as being Hispanic, I would be upset as well.
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