Thursday, May 01, 2008

On Living with a Majority Minority

College Bowl Nationals 2008 019

New Mexico is the only Minority Majority state in the U.S. Which is a phrase that doesn't even make any sense, actually. But it's something you notice when you go to a state like Minnesota, walk into a business establishment meant to cater to tourists or business travelers (or, college students attending a trivia competition) and silently wonder to yourself, "Hmm, where are all the brown people?"

(This is something you often find yourself doing when you're usually the only brown person in a particular place. Or at least, I do. Is that bad?)

And then you look around and notice. Oh. Oooohh, I get it. They all work here. They're the employees.

When you're from a place where class distinctions are not so much marked by skin color, it's kind of weird to go somewhere where they are.

Anyway, I've uploaded some of the pictures I took at College Bowl, here.

2 comments:

Daisy said...

You know that "black name" post of mine that got all the hits? Some of the emails I got asked me what I was talking about, and didn't even seem to know that there are names considered black. "Like what?" they asked. They really didn't know. (Have they never even heard of Beyonce?)

Most of these emails were also from the upper Midwest, and several from Canada.

Vanessa said...

Really? Thant's so kind of twilight-zone to me.