The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice and Oppression

I actually had an incident happen to me earlier this afternoon.  I was at the local mall and heard a interesting conversation happening behind me.  A female security guard was looking for someone to translate Spanish into English for a guest of the mall.  In a very loud voice she asked the young man, who looked Mexican, to translate for this family.  She spoke very loudly and drew unnecessary attention to the situation.  She assumed from his physical appearance that he would obviously know how to speak Spanish and be able to help out the situation.  He carefully explained to her that he did not know Spanish and that he couldn't help.  It was a very embarrassing situation and I felt bad for the young man.  She made an assumption that was incorrect and was uncomfortable for everyone involved.  He job was to bus tables and my observation was that he felt bad about not being able to help.

In the past I probably wouldn't have noticed this injustice.  Due to the past few classes and what I have learned I picked up on it right away and was sympathetic to the employee.  This employee was singled out from all of the other employees in the area due to his dark skin.  I watched the security person and after she asked the employee for help, she did not attempt to ask anyone else.  There were equal chances that the white, female at the food court would have been very fluent in Spanish but was not asked. 

A part of me wanted to walk over and explain to the lady that should be more sensitive to the feelings of the employee.  First of all, she attracted unnecessary attention to the situation and seemed to have embarrassed the employee.  I did not see the family that needed translation but they would have probably felt uncomfortable as well.  I think the employee handled the injustice with grace and sensitivity.  The security guard was probably unaware of her actions and with some education and pointers would see how her assumptions might have been insulting. 

Unfortunately, we live in an area with very little diversity and culture.  She might have not had many opportunities to experience different cultures and consider the fact that she might be insulting.  The comment made wasn't meant to be insulting.  I think her tone and volume were inappropriate but besides that her comments were unfair but also unintentional.