TMD: Racism

I'm not a racist. Or so I'd like to believe. But there are situations that would prove otherwise.

My good friend had noticed that when I talk to my employees who are of Mexican descend, I have a tendency of over-simplifying my language. I "baby talk." Goo-goo ga-ga. For example, when I'm saying "it's okay," it comes out to sound like "ich okey." Or when I'm trying to say "and you need to cut the tomatoes and place then in a neat, linear pattern in the container," I say something along the lines of "and yoo cut tomayto and poot nice straigh' insigh', oki?"

Now my question is: is that being racist? I mean, clearly it's a given that their English isn't as developed as mine. In essence, simplifying my English to a standard where they could understand is just an act of thoughtfulness no? Don't get me wrong, I love the Mexicans. They brought their concepts burritos and tacos, and I love burritos and tacos. What more could I ask for?

But the amusing thing is, I noticed myself acting the same way towards a customer. A Kenyan to be exact. Actually, I'm not sure if he was a Kenyan, but he was pretty dang dark. And only Kenyans and South Africans are that dark, but South Africans have an exclamation mark in their names so he had to be Kenyan by the process of elimination. His name was Masuli, not !Dobile.

Anyways, he had a very heavy Kenyan accent, and as he gave me his cash he asked me if he could get the bottle drink instead of a 21 ounce cup with the combo. It sounded like this: (in a heavy, deep, Kenyan-like voice) "Can I bottle no cup?" A normal white man would not be able to understand this. But since I've been around fobs of all countries: Koreans, Mexicans, Japanese, Kenyans, Hillbillies, I understood immediately. And so I responded like this: "No, esstra char' feety sen mo" (No, extra charge fifty cents more). He nodded and said, "ok."

At this point, I couldn't help but crack a smile. I had just realized how utterly stupid I must have sounded. I wonder if he would have understood had I used proper English? It's definitely something worth observation. A great hypothesis to experiment upon.

So in conclusion, I am not a racist. I just care too much about proper communication.