{"id":574826,"date":"2023-12-12T10:59:28","date_gmt":"2023-12-12T15:59:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=574826"},"modified":"2023-12-12T12:30:58","modified_gmt":"2023-12-12T17:30:58","slug":"racial-profiling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2023\/12\/12\/racial-profiling\/","title":{"rendered":"Racial Profiling?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Erewhon<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I was at the Erewhon at the Culver City steps<\/a>, and I came in frantically looking for a cup of coffee, also dressed like a homeless person. One of the guys who was working there, taller older looking Caucasian guy may be in his 50s, with grey hair, came up to me and asked me \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Do you need help finding anything?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Which is essentially a low-key way of saying \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to steal something\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to be fake friendly nice to you, to approach you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why is this an issue? Well\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 I am Asian American, Korean American, and it is the funniest thing because this has never happened to me. Typically people don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think that Asian people or Asian guys are going to steal something. But I guess because I dressed like a homeless person, it set off some sort of red flag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I actually had a very funny response. Knowing that I came and dressed like a homeless person, I joked and said \u00e2\u20ac\u0153don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t worry, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not a homeless person.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he was actually quite shocked, taken aback and said\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153No no no, we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t judge people like that around here\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u0153, Which means, we do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you look like a homeless person, or if you look like you might steal something\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 should it make sense for people to profile you this way?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

tricky. Maybe it is OK if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a small mom and pop shop, but if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a big corporation, perhaps not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why? If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a big chain like Erewhon or whatever, even if somebody does steal some thing it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not really that big of a deal. They could take the loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore my simple heuristic; assume that everyone is a billionaire who steps inside, unless they are obviously a mentally unwell person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, my simple thought is any sort of profiling based on appearances, your clothing, your skin pigment or your facial morphology is bad<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From a simple ethics perspective, we could start off by not doing it ourselves. Whenever you meet everybody, that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re the billionaire beggar, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re also\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 treat the janitor with more respect than the big boss (Taleb).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How is this an issue?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I was talking to one of my buddies here, who works at the Culver City steps as a janitor, and he is kind of a short Mexican American guy, with a shaved head. He told me a similar story, not sure if it is the same guy or not (tall Caucasian guy), but he was tailed the whole time, which essentially means:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I think you might steal something because you are a Latino guy.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

As a consequence, I think this is a critical thing to consider because that we should consider\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 if you are Mexican-American, Latino, African-American or whatever\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 Consider all of this annoying racism that happens to you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you see something you suspect as racism, call it out!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Another really annoying thing; I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been kicked out of about one or two gyms in the last year, because people thought that I might \u00e2\u20ac\u0153hurt myself\u00e2\u20ac\u0153. This is a hidden low-key racism towards Asian Asian American guys; why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In America, and popular western media, we think of the Asian guy the Asian man as being goofy awkward, weak anemic, effeminate, quiet and passive and meek.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

As a consequence, when people see you lifting 7, 8, 9 plates 10 plates and beyond\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 I break their worldview. The thought is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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An Asian man cannot be strong masculine and demigod like Hercules.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

As a consequence, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been starting to discover more more\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 People are low-key trying to bully me? That they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re trying to stunt on me flex on me or trying to put me down?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, if a similar thing like this happens to me in the future\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 When somebody is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153trying to educate me\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, because there are somehow trying to bully me or trying to demean me\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to call them out on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If somebody tries to bully me, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to bully them back!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zero tolerance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Another example; I was lifting weights at the gym, and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know where, when I was about to lift nine plates on the squat rack, a random guy comes up to me and tells me off saying that I might fuck up the equipment or something\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 And that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153this might not be the right gym for me\u00e2\u20ac\u0153. I first I said sorry and that I would re-rack the equipment, assuming that it was the owner, and also assuming that I was going to get kicked out of the gym again. But on second thought, it actually just might be a member; some sort of loser weak anemic looking Caucasian guy, who might have felt intimidated by me?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153but be careful\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\t\t
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