Do you indulge it, shut it down, ignore it???
So I am at my uncle's house for Thanksgiving this year.
He lives in a rich suburb of L.A.
Our family and friends are uniformly successful Indian professionals: doctors, dentists, businessmen etc.
I'm an artist. And gay.
Needless to say I'm the odd one out.
Without fail the conversation turned to the election, at which point numerous people made condescending remarks towards blacks and latinos.
Again, I'm the odd one out. Most of my significant others have been blacks and latinos.
I found myself doing things I wish I didn't: nodding along, fake laughing, shrugging my shoulders.
Basically giving an "oh really? haha!" kind of tea
I felt uncomfortable but didn't feel it was my place to give a fucking lecture on race to a room full of confused brown republicans.
Am I wrong for saying nothing? I just don't know when to turn it on and off.
I feel like, because these were my parents' people, I didn't have a place to stand my ground.
Do y'all find yourself in similar positions? Have you ever been exposed to racial insensitivity and didn't know what to do about it? Or chose to ignore it to keep from getting embroiled in something that ultimately wasn't worth the effort?
