A Rude Awakening

“ You’ve been living in a dream world, Neo.” This was one of the famous quotes in the movie Matrix that Ms. Johnson referenced as she explained how the movie was one of her favorites. My interview with Ms. Johnson ,a Resolution Manager at Hertz, was conducted over the phone. She referenced this movie to explain how her perception of both the world and the people in it was forever changed. The purpose of my interview was to find the relevant events that occurred in this persons life that changed their overall outlook on life in a detrimental way.

Ms. Johnson spoke with me about how this shift in perspective began. How she believed that people were born without prejudice or bigotry but soon are tainted by their upbringing and the society in which they live. She described her way of thinking as she told me a story about her life growing up as a child. Ms. Johnson stated growing up she was a little sheltered. She didn’t really see things in terms of black and white; to her people were people no matter their color. She described how in first grade she became a campfire girl after many months of begging her mom to join. The group was diverse with about 4 little black girls and 7 little white girls all of similar ages. She went on to describe how they became close friends and would have sleepovers and often traveled together as Campfire Girls to different cities and events. They were aware that they looked different but it wasn’t important to them. They had fun and enjoyed each others company. Ms Johnson said throughout her school years she kept a diverse group of friends, and continued that trend even when entering college and later joining the workforce. She has always worked well with others and moved up quickly. She stated she had never truly experienced racism up close and personal, but how that all changed for her about 7 years ago.

Ms Johnson talked about the campaign days of then Senator Barack Obama and how she was overjoyed and proud to be an African-American. Seeing the prospect of history being made with the first African-American President running the White House was both an exciting and emotional time for her. She recalled constantly watching political news shows whenever she could find the time and also being very active on the Obama campaign. During the Obama presidential run Ms. Johnson began to see things start to shift and take a distasteful turn. This is when she finally began to realize the enormous amount of racism and bigotry in America.

As Senator Obama gained ground in the election more and more viscous comments and negative ads started to emerge. She remembers the subtle racial remarks that were coming from both democratic and republican politicians.; code words being used such as terrorist, muslim and socialist referring to him as Kenyan to imply that Senator Obama was not one of us despite his mother being both white and an American. “It was both distasteful and mean.” says Ms. Johnson. She even began to see more and more code word campaign ads being aired. But what was probably most hurtful and shocking to her was a southern voters comments on an HBO documentary. The man stated that he felt that no black man belonged in the White House as president and that he would never acknowledge a black man as president of the United States.

After the election Ms.Johnson said her work environment seemed to change. While the African American workers were both delighted and proud other workers seemed angry and hostile. She said one of her coworkers decided to proudly display a photo of President Obama in her cubicle the day after the election but was told to remove the photo by her boss who explained that there were complaints from people in the office that they found it offensive. Ms Johnson commented, “Since when was it offensive to have a United States President’s photo hanging in your office.” She said that did not sit well with her and she decided she needed to push the issue along with other co-workers in the office and meet the Human Resources Department. After a meeting with the Human Resources Manager the co-worker was allowed to return the photo to her desk. Ms Johnson said she had never felt more belittled and insignificant as a human being as she did that day. As a result she no longer feels that she can trust people. She says she can never be sure that their feelings are genuine toward her. She feels she can not even trust her friends to tell her the truth of how they feel and no longer feels as comfortable with a diverse group of friends as she once did. She finds herself mingling more with African Americans instead and feels a sense of loss. What she really wants is to return to the dream world she once believed in, when she was happy and she felt a close connection and strong sense of trust for most all people.

What can people learn from Ms. Johnson's experience? They can learn that everything is not always as it appears. There are people out there that do not mean you well though they may smile in your face and call you their friend. People have countless experiences that change their outlook on life and they can either change their lives for the better or for the worst. Hopefully thru time the trust of others can be regained and Ms. Johnson will be able to have a more optimistic view of people. It’s important for you not to allow the negative views and bigotry of others to affect you in a life altering way.