Rozy Karim
Professor: Dr. Joanna Mansbridge
English 104W
November 29th, 2013
Strangers and how we perceive them.
I was appalled by the sight of a young girl, malnourished, dirty, in torn cloths crying and begging for money on Ahmedabad Street in India. Just as I reached for my purse to give her some money, my host, Dr. Dalal pushed me aside, gestured me inside our parked car, locked the doors and exclaimed “I should have warned you! Haven’t you seen the movie “Slumdog Millionaire?” I was left shaking, words cannot describe the horror I felt for not helping out a poor desolate child. How could this helpless child be a victim of an organized crime of self-made beggars? To answer this question would be an essay in itself, however, I describe this, as one of many etched incidences in my life to illustrate that I misrecognized the beggar and was influenced by someone else’s preconceived stereotype image of “other, a stranger described as a beggar” that was different then us.

The notion of “other and misrecognition” is described in Toni Morrison’s essay “Strangers” (1998) when she explores this concept by depicting a stranger as an image of a bizarre fisherwomen dressed in men’s clothing; while Brent Staples portrays his own image as a stranger and depicts how he is perceived as a threat to others in his essay “Black Men and Public Space” (1986). Although both Morrison and Staples offer differing accounts of their experiences and feelings, they both share the same vision, the correlation between “how we see strangers” versus “how we are seen as strangers.” The notion of difference and misrecognition of strangers creates, fear, anger, frustrations and curiosity in both these authors, but they make concerted efforts to recognize and deal with their behavior, which begs the question: How do we learn to accept each other in a diverse society? Some factors that can influence our acceptance of others are based on our historical background, our lack of knowledge about others, and our learned stereotype preconceived ideas about others who do not conform to our values and beliefs.

Both Morrison and Staples are of the African American descent. The historical background of slavery, racial discrimination, and politics in America, and their personal and intellectual achievements throughout these struggles, have shaped the way they think about themselves and the society around them. Morrison was born in in 1931 in Lorain, Ohio. She studied in Howard and Cornell University. She is an American novelist of distinction, an editor, a professor and has written numerous award winning books. Staples was born in 1951 in Chester, Pennsylvania, he was one of nine children in a family that had no money for his tuition. He lived in a violent and poor neighborhood and his brother a cocaine dealer was murdered by one of his clients; Staples, struggled through-out these crises and vowed to be different. He is an author and an editorial writer for the New York Times since 1985. (“Toni Morrison”; “Brent Staples”). Staples essay (1986) and Morrison’s essay (1998) were written more than a decade apart however they both offer thought provoking experiences on what it feels like to be, or be seen as someone who is different in color, creed, cast, religion or gender.

Morrison choses three resources to propose an explanation for accessing others. Language, image and experience used sporadically. She explains “language (saying, listening, reading) can encourage, even mandate, surrender, the breach of distances among us” (78). Staples takes a defense mechanism approach, and says “over the years, I learned to smother the rage I felt at so often being taken for a criminal. Not to do so would surely have led to madness. I now take precautions to make myself less threatening” (190)

Both these perspectives can be applied simultaneously in my own personal experience of being a complete stranger when I first came to Canada in 1973. I am of an Asian African descent and the historical events of war and massacre in Rwanda, Central Africa lead me to seek a refugee status in Canada. As much as I was indebted and deeply grateful to Canada for saving my life, I was also ignorant about its people, their attitudes towards colored people, its history and culture. Unlike Staples, I was not angry but sincerely scared for my unborn child when I suffered snow ball punches from School children in a nearby School on Balliol Street in Toronto, where I first resided. I was certain that the unintentional mockery by the School children towards me was due to lack of knowledge about others like me who looked different than them. I was desperate to educate these children and tell them that not all brown people are “paki’s from Pakistan and that my brown skin originated from Africa, however I also chose to use Staple’s defense mechanism analogy and completely avoided taking the route that cut through the school yard, when picking up groceries or milk from a nearby Loblaw’s grocery store. Perhaps the children in the playground who chose to retaliate against the “notion of difference and misrecognition” through violence, were resorting to react out of lack of ignorance or a negative personal experience from people with brown skins or perhaps the root of resentment came from family values, religious beliefs or media.

It can be argued that Morrison misrecognized her stranger too. The preconceived picture of art provoked her and demanded her attention. At times she was curios and amused other times she was frustrated, puzzled, angry and felt cheated when her stranger did not materialize to fulfil her need of friendship, generosity and protection. (Morrison 76-77) Staples frustration and anguish stemmed from being misrecognized and stereotyped by other strangers as a dangerous black men in public places. When Staples innate need to want to co-exist as equal is not met, he learns to pacify his rage and resorts to whistle “Vivaldi” when walking on the streets at night. (190) Morrison uses art to “explore” and Staples uses art to “express.” This concept is described by Georgia Warnke, in her book “After Identity: Rethinking Race, Sex and Gender, (2007). She describes that our racial, gender, and sexual identities and identifications are ways of interpreting and understanding who and what we and others are is similar to ways we interpret and understand literary and other works of art (Warnke 86).

Weather we chose to understand others through art or literature, if not careful, fear of “others and misrecognition” can produce negative behavior which can have profound emotional effects on others who do not conform to our values and beliefs. When we compare the three examples that I have cited, we notice that the behavior of the school children who resorted to violence to discriminate against me was threatening the wellbeing of my unborn baby; Morrison’s stranger also had an impact on her emotions, which probed her to inquire and explore these questions: “Do we have the ethical right to judge strangers and create stories about them? Why would we want to know a stranger when it is easier to estrange another? Why would we want to close the distance when we can close the gate?” (79). And, Staples was traumatized by being stereotyped as a criminal by others who made him feel like he was “a mugger, a rapist or worse.” (188). How can we cast a shadow on others when we ourselves live in darkness? Shakti Gawain author of “creative visualization” believes that we can change the way we think, she describes: “Evil (ignorance) is like a shadow. It has no real substance of its own, it is simply a lack of light. You cannot cause a shadow to disappear by trying to fight it, stamp on it, by railing against it, or any other form of emotional or physical resistance. In order to cause a shadow to disappear, you must shine light on it.”(Shakti 61)

The need to understand and accept others who are different then us, requires forceful attempt to acquire knowledge and acceptance towards each other. It is only through dialogue, change of attitude and behavior that we will learn to accept each other and live harmoniously in a society that is a beautiful mosaic of different, religion, culture, race sex and gender identities.

Works cited

Morrison, Toni. “Strangers.” The Norton Reader. Ed. Linda H. Peterson, John Brereton, Joseph C. Brereton, Joseph Bizup, Anne E. Fernald, and Melissa A. Goldthwaite. 13th ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. Print. Staples, Brent. “Black men and public space.” The Norton Reader. Ed. Linda H. Peterson, John C.Brereton, Joseph C. Brereton, Joseph Bizup, Anne E. Fernald, and Melissa A. Goldthwaite. 13th ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. Print.
“Toni Morrison.” Wikepedia.org. N.p. 26 Nov 2013. Web. 21 Nov 2013
“Brent Staples.” Wikepedia.org. N.p. 29 Oct 2013. Web. 21 Nov 2013
Warnke, Georgia. After Identity: Rethinking race, sex and gender. Cambridge University Press, UK; New York: 2007. lib.sfu.ca. Web. 21 Nov 2013
Gawain, Shakti. Creative visualization. Natraaj Publishing. Novato, California. 2002. Google.com. Web. 21 Nov 2013.