How many times have you felt profiled for being who you appear to be?
And how often do you profile others?
I have been profiled more times than I can count.
From many angles I have had to live with the reality of perception, mine and theirs. " They" are the people assume.
Angle 1. I am black.
Angle 2. I have light brown skin.
Angle 3. I am a woman.
As a black girl from Chicago, I have interacted with and befriended many different people from different cultures and backgrounds.
All have there opinion of other cultures. I have been assumed to be everything but human.
Different minority communities struggle with color-ism.
How light/dark am I?
I have been perceived as many things, conceited, snooty, ghetto.
As a woman - men and women have assumed that they know how I will react to situations or how I may interpret situations.
This is all before we get to how I dress, speak and wear my hair.
Human decency can sometimes takes a backseat to assumption.
The crazy thing is, we all assume what we think we know.
A decade ago, I did some profiling of my own about my baggy-jeaned neighbors on one side of my street and my blonde haired blue eyed neighbors on the other side.
I just didn't like what either party assumed of me before they knew who I was .
I think anyone can see the light if they want to.