{"id":13216,"date":"2016-03-02T16:21:53","date_gmt":"2016-03-02T21:21:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/?p=13216"},"modified":"2017-07-11T08:41:35","modified_gmt":"2017-07-11T13:41:35","slug":"dear-gabby-29","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/tartan-news\/2016\/03\/02\/dear-gabby-29\/","title":{"rendered":"Dear Gabby"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Processed<\/a>Dear Gabby,<\/i><\/p>\n

I am not a racist person, but sometimes I feel like certain opposites are against me. But then again, I guess it depend what area you live in. I am an African American by the way. An example would be when I’m in the grocery store walking down the aisles and someone is approaching me from the opposite direction and they keep coming toward me as if I was not there forcing me to literally jump out the way. And note that excuse me was not even said. It\u2019s clear that no respect is given. I have some research by asking people of my race how they feel about the matter. They seem to feel the same way. Is this a sign of being paranoid considering in today’s society racism still exists? And how can I handle the matter?<\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/p>\n

Dear,<\/p>\n

In general, I think the world and society are becoming less compassionate, and our experiences are making us harsh not only as an individual, but also as a society. I can\u2019t say whether the person was being racist or not, but I do think that people are so focused on their fast-paced lifestyle that they forget about the simple things, such as, smiling to another person in the grocery store, or holding the door for the person behind them.<\/p>\n

Nowadays, it\u2019s easy to get caught up with your internal monologue while you\u2019re shopping or completing a random task of the day. Before you know it, life gets away from you and you don\u2019t remember the 10 minutes that just passed. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s necessarily a mindset that is focused on being rude or mean, but it\u2019s simply the fact that we are so caught up with our own to-do lists that the hustle and bustle of life tend to takeover.<\/p>\n

I do believe values and mindsets tend to rub off on people, so with what is happening in today\u2019s society, like racism or social media trends, everyone starts to form the same thoughts. It might not be intentional, but once it\u2019s all over the media, generally, people start to be more paranoid about what is being talked about. We start to analyze the situation, and before we know it, we create a conflict that maybe wasn\u2019t even there to begin with, or maybe it was.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s all perspectives, and as much as I\u2019d like to give you a white or black answer, no pun intended, I just can\u2019t. I\u2019d like to give the benefit of the doubt to people that maybe it\u2019s not about the color of the skin or the way someone is dressed, maybe it\u2019s just that the other person was having a bad day, and although they shouldn\u2019t be taking it out on anyone, they chose to just not respect the first person they saw, being you in the aisle of the grocery store.<\/p>\n

Everyone\u2019s experiences are different. I think that is something that is fascinating and unique, so I think that should challenge us to be kind to everyone. We don\u2019t know what someone is battling, so show kindness even if someone isn\u2019t reciprocating the feeling. We all know a form of racism is happening today, but I don\u2019t know whether to put this situation in that category. However, the only way to start change is by being the change. I hope everyone can find the courage to be as one, despite skin color or social and financial status, and also find a way to respect others. I don\u2019t know your situation or the feelings you experienced that day, but I do think that you should be confident with your background and who you are, don\u2019t take it personal that she didn\u2019t move out of the way or say \u2018excuse me.\u2019 Take the opportunity next time to smile and send a wave of happiness.<\/p>\n

With hope and peace,<\/p>\n

Gabby<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Gabby, I am not a racist person, but sometimes I feel like certain opposites are against me. But then again, I guess it depend what area you live in. I am an African American by the way. An example would be when I’m in the grocery store walking down the aisles and someone is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[2030],"class_list":["post-13216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tartan-news","tag-gabrielle-sharp"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5s3vR-3ra","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13216"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13217,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13216\/revisions\/13217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}